Since the inception of the World Wide Web, resources have become more accessible and flows of information circulating on the Net continues to grow. However, the contents are not always advanced in the right direction and many people have learned quickly to abuse of these resources.

The "Spam" (also used the term spam or junk mail) refers to the sending of unsolicited bulk email.

Concept spam

The term "spam" is used to describe the sending of bulk email (usually advertising) to recipients who do not apply and whose addresses, generally, are achieved through the Internet. The English word "spam" (spam) comes from the name of the canned meat sold by Hormel Foods Company. The association of this word with abusive emails comes from an episode of Monty Python (Monty Python's famous spam-loving vikings) that develops in a restaurant whose specialty is Spam. In this episode, every time a customer orders a dish, the other guests begin to sing in chorus "spam spam spam spam spam ..." so high that the poor client can not be heard.

People who send mass e-mails are called "spammers", a word that now has a pejorative connotation.

Why "spam"?

The main purpose of spam is to advertise the lowest price through "junk mail" or "send excessive multiple (EMP).

Spammers sometimes say, in bad faith, the recipients were voluntarily in their databases and e-mails they receive are easy to remove because, after all, is an environmentally friendly way to advertise.

How spammers work

Spammers collect email addresses of the Internet (forums, websites, discussion groups, etc..) Thanks to software programs called "robots" that scan several pages and stored in a database of all email addresses appear in them.

At this point, the spammer simply launch an application that sends the advertising message to each address successively.

The effects of spam

The major drawback of spam are:

• The space it occupies in the mailboxes of the victims;
• Difficult to see the personal or professional messages that are mixed with the advertising and increased risk of eliminating error or not reading the important messages;
• Waste of time to sort and delete unsolicited messages;
• The nature violent or insulting texts or pictures that accompany these messages and that may be shocking for young people;
• The bandwidth consumed in the network of networks.

The spam also creates additional administrative costs for Internet service providers (ISP) that is reflected in the cost of their subscriptions. These additional costs are mainly related to:

• Antispam system configuration;
• Awareness of users;
• Staff training;
• Use additional resources (servers, filtering, etc.)..

How to fight spam

The spammers often use fake addresses, so it is completely useless answer. In addition, a response can show the spammer that the address is active.

Also, when you receive an unwanted email (spam) in the bottom of the page is a link which can give you the option not to receive such a message. If so, it is likely that the link provides the spammer the ability to identify active addresses. Therefore, we recommend that you delete this message.

There are also anti-spam systems based on modern rules that detect and delete unwanted messages when necessary. In general, anti-spam software is divided into two categories:

• Guest antispam systems used by the client messaging system. Broadly speaking, these filters present identification that is based on predefined rules or learning filters (Bayesian filters).
• Server antispam systems, which can filter mail before it reaches the recipient. This type of system is certainly the best since it lets you stop spam at the highest level and avoid network congestion and email addresses. An intermediate solution is to configure the server system to mark spam messages with a specific header (eg X-Spam-Status: Yes). Thanks to this brand is easy to filter messages on the client level messaging system.

For an e-mail overload or completely saturated, the final solution is to change the mailing address. However, it is recommended to keep the above email address long enough to retrieve the addresses of your contacts and communicate their new address only to real people.

Avoiding spam

Provide your email address only when clearly necessary to avoid spam and:

• Do not send messages (jokes, etc.). Requesting the user to forward the email to as many contacts as possible. These lists are really a blessing for those who collect addresses. You can forward the message if you make sure to hide the address of the above.
• Whenever possible, avoid publishing your email address in forums or websites.
• When possible, replace your email address by an image (Address collectors not detected) or break.
• Create one or more "disposable addresses" you use to register or enter the pages considered unreliable. The paradigm of perfection, if he can, is to create as many aliases as inscriptions directions ensuring that distinguishes the company name or the page. Therefore, if you receive an unsolicited e-mail, it will be easy to identify the origin of the "leaking information."