You Can Protect Yourself From Being Spammed

Being spammed seems to have become a part of everyday life in this age of e-mail. While we were once bombarded with "paper spam" in our home and office mailboxes, e-mail has transformed these paper direct mailing advertisements to electronic messages that appear in our e-mail boxes without warning or solicitation.

A recent study conducted by GartnerGroup Interactive [1] revealed that 90% of people who use the Internet are spammed on a weekly basis. 50% of these people receive spam mail daily. In fact, the study showed that the longer you remain with the same internet service provider, the more likely you are to get spammed because your name gets recorded and passed on when you fill out registration forms and post in newsgroups.

But you can stop the spam! Here are a few tips for controlling the tidal wave of unsolicited e-mail messages:
· Use spam filters - ZDNET Software Library [2] offers free filter demos. AOL users can set-up spam filters using the keyword mail controls.
· Put the spam you do receive in the Spam Recycle Center [3]. The center will check the spam for fraud.
· Fill-out an online spam complaint [4] with the Federal Trade Commission.
· Get a free web-based e-mail account and use it in situations where your name could be harvested by spammers.