Spam

Spam is unsolicited e-mail which is sent in massive quantities to unsuspecting Internet email users.

Most spam tries to sell products and services such as mortage refinancing, memberships to pornograpic web sites, and drugs such as Viagra.

A more dangerous category of spam tries to convince the recipient to share their bank account numbers, credit card numbers, or logins and passwords to their online banking systems or services such as eBay and PayPal.

Spam is sometimes referred to as Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail (UCE). Not all spam is commercial. Some spam is simply criminal, while other spammers send unrequested e-mails attempting to share their political or religious views.

Stopping Spam

Spam is almost impossible to stop completely, but it can be reduced to a less aggravating level through spam filters and legislation.

Spam Filters

A spam filter is a software application which is installed either on a mail server or a mail client.

E-mail administrators typically install spam filtering software on mail servers. By far the best spam filtering software for mail servers is Spam Assassin. Spam Assassin is a free product of the Apache Project.

Microsoft Outlook is currently the most popular e-mail client software in use. As of Outlook 2003, Outlook now ships with a reasonably good spam filter. Many companies sell software designed to improve the Microsoft Outlook spam filter.

Anti-Spam Legislation

Many states and countries have enacted legislation designed to enable the prosecution of spammers. This is a very difficult task because spammers may operate across national boundaries and operate anonymously.

Spam Laws is a comprehensive archive of anti-spam legislation which has been enacted worldwide.