Communications - Tips to Help Stop Spam

Spam is the enemy of the Internet! Spam is HATED by all Internet users. Spam is unsolicited commercial electronic junk mail. Spam is time consuming and costly.

Many times spam leads to bogus offers - beware!

People who spam are called "spammers".

Spammers are not just bulk email senders, spammers can be any email that promotes a product, a website or a blog. "Promoting content" is viewed in the same light as promoting a product - no differentiation is made between promoting products or promoting content - the same rules and regulations AND penalties apply.

Harvesting email addresses is spam. Sending promotional emails to co-workers to promote your website, your blog, or any content needs to adhere to the Can Spam Federal Guidelines - you must give them an opportunity to end the emails (within 10 days of notification).

Spam is expensive in wasting our time. Spam does have penalties - up to $16,000. Deceptive spams can be reported to spam...AT...uce.gov.

The FTC uses the spam stored in the database above to pursue law enforcement actions against people who send deceptive email.

Spam must be managed. Learn how you can do your part to stop the proliferation of spam out on the Internet.

For more information see: Federal Trade Commission

Facts for Business

Do you use email in your business? The CAN-SPAM Act, a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have you stop emailing them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.

Despite its name, the CAN-SPAM Act doesn’t apply just to bulk email. It covers all commercial messages, which the law defines as “any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service,” including email that promotes content on commercial websites. The law makes no exception for business-to-business email. That means all email – for example, a message to former customers announcing a new product line – must comply with the law.

Each separate email in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act is subject to penalties of up to $16,000, so non-compliance can be costly. But following the law isn’t complicated. Here’s a rundown of CAN-SPAM’s main requirements:

1. Don’t use false or misleading header information. Your “From,” “To,” “Reply-To,” and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person or business who initiated the message.
2. Don’t use deceptive subject lines. The subject line must accurately reflect the content of the message.
3. Identify the message as an ad. The law gives you a lot of leeway in how to do this, but you must disclose clearly and conspicuously that your message is an advertisement.
4. Tell recipients where you’re located. Your message must include your valid physical postal address. This can be your current street address, a post office box you’ve registered with the U.S. Postal Service, or a private mailbox you’ve registered with a commercial mail receiving agency established under Postal Service regulations.
5. Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you. Your message must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting email from you in the future. Craft the notice in a way that’s easy for an ordinary person to recognize, read, and understand. Creative use of type size, color, and location can improve clarity. Give a return email address or another easy Internet-based way to allow people to communicate their choice to you. You may create a menu to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to stop all commercial messages from you. Make sure your spam filter doesn’t block these opt-out requests.
6. Honor opt-out requests promptly. Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your message. You must honor a recipient’s opt-out request within 10 business days. You can’t charge a fee, require the recipient to give you any personally identifying information beyond an email address, or make the recipient take any step other than sending a reply email or visiting a single page on an Internet website as a condition for honoring an opt-out request. Once people have told you they don’t want to receive more messages from you, you can’t sell or transfer their email addresses, even in the form of a mailing list. The only exception is that you may transfer the addresses to a company you’ve hired to help you comply with the CAN-SPAM Act.
7. Monitor what others are doing on your behalf. The law makes clear that even if you hire another company to handle your email marketing, you can’t contract away your legal responsibility to comply with the law. Both the company whose product is promoted in the message and the company that actually sends the message may be held legally responsible.

courtesy of: Federal Trade Commission

5 helpful tips from Chris at Pirillio, submitted by Zackery. While some of these tips are more for your webmaster, all of these tips are helpful to know.

Use A Good Software Program - Both Desktop and Server Side Are Needed

1.) Use a good software program for managing spam, server-side or desk top side. Chris uses Microsoft Outlook for his desktop solution along with a server-side solution.

Never Give Your Email in Complete Text Form - Obscure it From the Computer

2.) Never give your email away in text form. Give your email address in cryptic notes or in an image - keep from the computer picking it up. This is how the computer will find your email and inundate your email box with spam. This is true both for your website and also for your social accounts. For example, on LinkedIn you can say you are an open net worker with email with the mandate that a human must interpret. Avoid direct linking. Avoid giving the computer the ease of grabbing your email.

Split Up Your Companies Emails Into Multiple Accounts

3.) Split up your companies emails into multiple accounts. Don't use just one email address.

Don't Use Common Words for Your Email Address

4.) Don't use common words - never use help @ website.com. Computer will guess so use helpandsupport @ website.com so the spammers don't pick up your common words.

Use Two Emails - One Personal - One Business

5.) For EVERYONE - Make two email accounts for your self - one personal, one business. Do what you can to stop spam. Always seek to protect your email address.

Anonymity is what allows spammers to thrive. If your website demands authentication, the spammers are not able to hide. If they cannot hide, they can be caught!

Therefore, a robust authentication standard is needed for your website contacts to ensure that a message actually comes from the domain listed.

Here's a video that details a weak authentication.

Communicating out on the Internet is complicated. Sailing a boat is wonderful until the rough waters hit. Knowing how to trim your sail will allow you to slice through those rough waters. Likewise, knowing the rules of deceptive practices, knowing IF your website is performing robust authentications and knowing how to protect your emails are essential tools to help you navigate. The three take a ways for stopping spam are summarized below.

How To Fix Issues With Spam

#1. Deceptive Spam

Report Deceptive Spam at spam AT uce.gov.

Also, don't send deceptive spam - the penalties are steep - up to $16,000 under the United States Can Spam Legislation.

Even B2B emails, not bulk emails can be considered spam and may be considered deceptive - see the rules above for more details.

#2. All Promotional Emails Even B2B Can be Considered Spam

Always follow the rules for allowing the recipient to opt out of the email notification.

#3 Protect Your Emails

See Chris Pirillo's 5 detailed steps to protecting your companies email addresses. Note, number 2 - next include your email in full text form - on social networking sites or on your own website. Always encrypt the email address - use an image, use flash, put your email address into a full sentence - something so the computer can not pick up and broadcast to every anonymous, deceptive spammer out on the Internet.

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FTC Disclosure

The author has no affiliation of any kind with any of the companies or governmental entities listed within this article. Additionally, she does not receive financial or service remuneration.

The author has a broad range of interests and frequently writes about communications, art, fitness, health and food safety. She is the inventor of the EZ Swimmer and President of American Son Products, Inc.