No, I'm not referring to the stuff that comes in a can or the Monty Python bit. This week it's all about the issue of e-mail SPAM.
I have two words... ubiquitous and intrusive. Unfortunately, it seems that there isn't much we can do to rid our e-mail in-boxes of the unwanted, and often grotesque, spam messages. Sure we can filter, filter, filter, but the messages just get sent to another designated folder. And no one really has time to jump through the hoops to have your email removed from the list. Not to mention, with most of the "true" spam messages, you can't even track down a real-life spammer.
The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 was implemented to alleviate the bombardment of spam. The law provides guidelines for e-marketers and allows a means for the FTC and FCC to enforce these rules. However, enforcement is nearly impossible with international spam, and especially when that message does not come from a legitimate business. Since the act was passed by Congress, spam has nearly doubled.
One of my classmates introduced an interesting article about spam from the New Yorker this week, which discusses the history of spam and the status of spam today. My question is when will technology catch up with the spammers?
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I second that question! How frustrating it is, while my emails are all forwarded to my spam folder, to go through them and ensure that the technology really does work! I can't say how many times I scroll through the hundreds of SPAM messages to find one or two which shouldn't have been there. And so many people I know just delete them! If only there was a better way to block them than going one by one.
Speaking of email, I've only finally gotten to the email you sent last month. Sorry I'm so late checking this out! It's nice to see you blogging, interesting things too, different from anything we are normally reading on blogspot which tends to be posts by family and friends.
Hope you guys are doing well? We need to catch up some time soon! x
p.s. I'd definitely be interested in hearing more about how to set up a tracker system by the way...
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