April 20, 2004

Spam: You Can Do Something About It

Spam is generally defined as unsolicited and usually unwanted E-mail that you may receive, ranging from advertisements for get-rich-quick schemes to pornography sites. GW’s Information Systems and Services (ISS) is researching possible spam control solutions, but in the meantime there are things you can do to stem the tide of spam in your GWMail inbox.

The simplest thing to do with most spam is to delete it. For persistent problems, or multiple messages from the same source, contact abuse@gwu.edu to investigate blocking this source and to register a complaint with the originating Internet service provider. Here are some other simple steps you can take yourself to control spam.

• Do not open or respond to spam E-mail. Opening spam can alert spammers that they have reached a working E-mail address and they may sell your E-mail address to other spammers. If you don’t know the sender, or the subject line has odd characters, then delete it.
• Refrain from posting your E-mail address online. Spammers use a process called “scraping” to harvest E-mail addresses from Web sites.
• Refrain from using your E-mail address to sign-up for newsletters, chats and other groups. If you must, make sure there is a clear privacy statement ensuring that your information will not be shared for any reason.
• Do not unsubscribe to spam you never signed-up for in the first place. This only lets the spammer know your address is active and you will receive even more spam.
• Avoid purchasing products/services from spam ads. Doing so enables spammers to accomplish their goal of making money and using spam as a way to advertise their products. Once you have made a purchase, you are now open to receiving additional spam.
• Avoid receiving E-mail in HTML format. Some spam messages are sent in HTML format and may contain hidden codes that, once viewed, alert spammers that they’ve reached a working E-mail address. Set your E-mail to show messages in plain text format only.
• Maintain multiple E-mail accounts. While handling multiple E-mail accounts may be cumbersome, many people find it useful to have public and private E-mail accounts. Use your GW address for business and academic purposes, but create a free Hotmail (www.hotmail.com) or Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) account for message boards and newsletters. When the Hotmail/Yahoo address becomes rife with spam, discard it and set up a new account.
• Set up filters on your E-mail client (e.g., MS Outlook, Netscape Communicator) to filter spam messages. Depending on what E-mail client you use, you may be able to filter out annoying messages. ISS has written directions for mail filtering available on the ISS Virtual Help Desk, located online at http://helpdesk.gwu.edu/helpdesk/manuals/mailfilter/.

For more spam prevention tips, visit the Help Desk Web site http://helpdesk.gwu.edu/helpdesk/manuals/mailfilter/spam.html.

For a copy of the University’s E-mail policy visit http://helpdesk.gwu.edu/helpdesk/policies/E-mail.policy.html.

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu