In
the article, we discuss the some
of the not-so-well-known side effects
spam has. (article 7)
How many of us read email with a
child in our lap? Well I do, but
not with the preview pane on. Spam
is invasive in so many ways, it
disgusts me how I have changed the
way I do things because of the offensive
behavior of others. In this episode
on spam, we are going to be covering
the more personal effects. How it
impacts us, how we can deal with
it and why we should do something
about it.
This being our 7th session on spam,
we have already discussed it much
more than we should have to. The
fact is, we are reacting to a situation
forced onto us, and we are taking
actions that we don’t even
realize, to deal with it. Hopefully
after this edition, if you weren’t
already ready to flog a spammer,
you will be. (Figuratively speaking)
Also, if you are new to this series
then I haven’t been able to
acclimate you to the despise that
I have for spammers. So when you
get a chance, take a look at our
earlier articles and get ready to
be spurred into action.
Do you have an annoying relative
that calls you collect? Ever bought
something only to have it arrive
postage due? Have you ever paid
a fee for something that you didn’t
want, but had to take? That pretty
much sums up your financials when
it comes to receiving spam. I certainly
don’t want it, but I have
to waste my time, my bandwidth and
my hard drive space to receive it
only to turn around and delete it.
Spammers can send tens of thousands
of emails an hour on a single 28.8
modem. They paid a little for electricity
and next to nothing for a phone
line and they sent over 15 million
emails in a single month. It’s
like standing in the middle of the
room at a party and screaming at
the top of your lungs trying to
interrupt everyone’s conversations.
Society has no place for people
that behave like that. The sooner
that we collectedly tell our legislators
that we won’t stand for it,
the sooner we can get back to our
mingling.
How many of us depend on email for
their work, whether it be at home
or at a business, email for some,
has become a second phone. How many
times has a time-sensitive email
arrived and you did not notice it
because a spam message came in as
well. Worse yet, how many of us
have deleted a legitimate email
on accident because of its proximity
to a spam message. I used to have
my pager set to go off if an email
arrived while I was away from my
desk. If I tried to pull that off
now my battery budget would break
the bank and my colleagues would
have me lynched. I used to read
my email through preview pane, but
now because of Porn and Beaconing
I leave it off. How many of you
used to subscribe to various trade
publications that are now blocked
because of incomplete Anti-Spam
implementations. For those of us
running Anti-Spam filters, how sure
are you that you are getting all
the mail you should? No real way
to know is there? The sheer fact
that I have to question this makes
me sick to my stomach. Spammers
have taken an incredibly powerful
collaboration tool and have reduced
it to flyers on your windshield
in the rain.
How many times have you sent something
to somebody else only to find it
was inaccurately blocked by there
email system. How many of you have
shide away from purchasing something
online because of the uncomfortable
feeling that your email would be
given to thousands of spammers.
How many of you have had to contact
all of your friends and relatives
to give them a new email address
because the old one was simply unusable
do to the amount of spam it received.
I find myself sometimes growing
numb to these concerns and thinking,
“Well that’s just the
way it is these days”. But
wait, it shouldn’t be this
way; we shouldn’t have to
tolerate it. As long as people take
that attitude, we will be stuck
with spam. Now is definitely time
to take action, the longer we wait
the more time it is going to take
to get rid of them. If you are still
reluctant to do anything to actively
stop spam, think about this. Over
two hundred years ago, we died for
our independence and our rights
as individuals. Why is it now that
someone else’s actions are
allowed to infringe on my freedoms
and change the way I have to do
things? It is not going to stop
until enough people say NO. Make
sure that you are one of those people.
Next time we will be focusing on
what you can do to your email client
to stay spam free.
Until then, remember to have fun
and take care.
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