SPAM - Part 1

To be considered spam, one of the criteria is that the message is transmitted by electronic mail with the primary purpose being a commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service (including content on an Internet website operated for a commercial purpose).

This does NOT include a transactional or relationship message, such as one you would receive from a company where you have purchased and/or used services.

 

So, if you have recently signed up for a service and/or previously signed up for a service, you may still be getting e-mail from the company and it would not be considered spam. Most likely they informed you via their online terms of service that they would send you messages as a result of your service request.

SPAM

The next series of posts will deal with identifying spam messages, which may allow you to have your Internet service provider pursue the spammer under the CAN-SPAM act. There are several criteria that determine whether a message is classified as spam in your inbox and then, if classified as spam, there is additional criteria to determine whether the message violates the rules in the CAN-SPAM act.

Can Spam

If you are tired of getting spam in your inbox, you may want to contact your internet provider, registrar, hosting company, or other internet service provider to see if they can help you block certain messages. Check to see if the messages are CAN-SPAM compliant. If not, you may want to contact the registrar of the domain name and ask them to look into the activities of their customer.

Holiday Spam

If you notice your inbox and junk mail folder being flooded with spam, most likely it relates to gifts and other holiday related items. Avoid the 'once in a lifetime' deals that are too good to be true. If you are in need of a gift in a hurry and/or do not trust items being shipped, you could select the 'pick up in store' option for some online websites and/or look at the 'price matching' terms for local stores and see if they are willing to match deals you found online.

Holiday Shopping

If you plan to use your credit card for online shopping this Holiday Season, make sure you are purchasing items from a legitimate website. Aside from verifying the whois information for the domain and any contact information posted on the domain, you should search for reviews about the website, if any. Be wary about websites that have been created recently as that may be an indication that they only intend to be around for a short period of time, around the holidays (which may reduce your options for any returns). The additional steps you take before purchasing can help you rest easy and confident that you are not handing your credit card information to an unknown third party.