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By
Kimberly
Powell
SPAM - That lovely
word for unsolicited commercial junk email that nearly all of us receive - and hate. These email messages, usually sent in mass-mailings to hundreds of
thousands of people at once, are full of promises of money, free vacations, and
even pornographic pictures. Government regulation may still be several years
away (many prior attempts to regulate mass commercial emailing in the U.S. have been
overturned as unconstitutional), so how can you protect yourself?
- Don't
Reply - Even if the email says that you can reply to have
yourself removed from the list, don't do it. A reply basically confirms
that you are a person with an active email address which opens
you up to even more unwanted email solicitations.
- Don't
Post Your Email Address in Public Places - As a
genealogist I certainly do not want to discourage people from
posting to genealogy message boards. They are one of the best
places online for making those all-important family
connections. However, you should choose the places you post
with care. Many of the genealogy message boards allow you to
post and receive replies to your messages and queries without
having to make your email address public (you login via a free
account which keeps your information private) or display email
addresses as images so that marketers can't intercept them for
junk mail purposes. The best even allow you to receive email
notifications when you have received a reply to your post.
Suggested "safe" boards include the
About Genealogy Forum,
Ancestry.com Message Boards and
Genforum.
- Create
a Separate Public Email Account - posting to public
mailing lists (including genealogy lists) makes it much easier
for spammers to find your email address. Now, as a
genealogist, I'm certainly not going to discourage you from
posting, but play it safe. Web-based email accounts are free
and easy to set up, so set one up for your public genealogy
persona. Don't use it for personal or work email, but give it
out when you sign up for mailing lists or shop online. That
way, if the spam gets too bad, you can always delete the email
address and create a new one.
- Use
Filters to Screen Out Spam - Many email programs allow you
to set rules to filter out certain messages. This can be handy
at
filtering spam emails straight to your trash bin based on
certain key words or domains. This won't get them all, but
should at least cut down on the annoyances.
- Report
the Offenders - If you have the time and inclination, then
reporting the spammers to their ISP may help.
Next
page > Protecting Yourself from Hoaxes & Scams >
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4, 5,
6
URL:
http://genealogy.about.com/library/weekly/aa101501c.htm
© 2002 Kimberly
Powell. Licensed to About.com. All Rights Reserved.
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