Getting too much spam?

Why am I getting all this junk e-mail from the Board? You’re Not!

by Matt Warren, CBR Technical Trainer/Systems Analyst

The Columbus Board of REALTORS® does not send “spam” to its members.   

We do not sell the membership roster to information brokers who then sell those names to hundreds or thousands of junk mail vendors.  The roster is used only for broadcast mailings from the MLS in case of system wide policy changes or other absolutely necessary announcements that must go out to all members.  The only other time the roster is utilized is when a preferred vendor is permitted a one-time use of the roster per quarter.  All other distribution, resale, or mass-emailing use of the roster is prohibited by MLS policy.

The website of the Columbus Board of REALTORS® has been created in such a way as to prevent “scraping” of email.  For example, the “Find a REALTOR®” function was designed to prevent the parasitic spammer from getting a large number of them at once.  Each address must be accessed one-at-a-time.  Spammers are lazy.  If it can’t be automated, they don’t waste their time.  Effectively, this type of search saps their will to steal.  Laziness of spammers is our best defense against them.

If you get spam or viruses from an address you recognize, don’t assault your friend or coworker (or CBR).  There is a very high probability that it didn’t come from the address listed in the “from” line.  Using a method of redirection called “spoofing”, spammers pretend to be from a trusted address. 

If you block the address of a friend or business associate, and accuse them of sending spam and viruses to you, you are attacking an innocent victim of “email identity theft”.  You already opened the email, viewed the content, and possibly sent an invisible “I read this email” to the spammer.  Don’t top off the spammer’s success by verbally harrassing a person who didn’t even send you the spam in the first place.

How Are They Getting My Name?

Any time your email address appears on a publicly accessible, especially searchable, website, you are probably going to end up on a spam list.  Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and others can be used to find websites, then automated “bots” and “spiders” (software designed for reconnaissance) can “crawl” around looking for information to steal and automatically create vast email databases.

Email from reputable companies with which you have done business is not spam.  Your ‘Best Buy ad’ or ‘John Deere newsletter’ are most likely generated by a purchase or voluntary registration on their website.  They should not be treated with anti-spam hostility. 

Professional, reputable companies will stop sending you their communiques at your request.  They usually have a link at the bottom to automate removal from their list.  (Be careful, illegitimate spammers use this same technique. If you don’t know the company and their reputation well, don’t click the “remove me” link.  It may just be a scam to verify that you are an active email account.)

Is There An Answer?

Now?  No.  Someday?  Maybe.  Until that day, do not click on ads from unsolicited vendors.  Never.  Whether they arrive in email or in pop-up ads, they are clogging the Internet, and causing legitimate, honest mail to become lost in the deluge of junk. 

There are many programs designed to make spam “disappear”, but at best, they only slow down the attack.  They cannot block all spam, and in many cases they block legitimate mail as well as spam. The government has created laws to try and shore up the flood, but they have been overrun and are weak on enforcement.

Do not support spammers and unscrupulous advertisers anywhere, anytime.  If there is no money in it, the ads will stop.  Do not reply to email from unknown sources.  Do not click on links to sites on spam emails.  Even viewing the email in preview pane may send an invisible “reply” to the spammer, confirming that they found an active address.

For a detailed accounting of spam history, government contacts, and examples of heinous forms of spam, we recommend Randy Cassingham’s well-researched article on “Getting Rid of Spam” at http://www.SpamPrimer.com