To: WSFAlist at keithlynch.net
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 10:01:21 -0400
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Spam Observation
From: ronkean at juno.com
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 22:25:32 -0400 "Ted White" <twhite8 at cox.net> writes:
>
> I don't bother with filters; running my eye down my queue is
> entirely
> sufficient.    Today I've deleted 21 pieces of spam.
>

21 per day sounds hardly more than a minor annoyance.  But there is an
email problem which I find more annoying than spam - namely messages
(most often from legitimate senders) which disrupt the operation of the
computer.  For example, when someone sends me a message consisting of a
copied web page, it sometimes happens that a dialog window about scripts
pops up.  Repeated efforts to close the window result in a new window
popping up, and it is impossible to accomplish any other action while a
dialog window is awaiting a response.  So I have to reboot the computer.
A similar problem often accompanies mail from Israel, where the computer
is unable to read the message or the attachment.

I get only a few spam messages per day, usually less than ten, and I've
been using the same juno address for nearly 8 years.  Today, I downloaded
102 messages in the first tranche, and just one of them was spam.  Three
messages were ads from juno.  Also, it seems like I'm getting less spam
now as compared with a few months ago.  Could it be that Juno started
filtering?  It appears that Juno does not filter incoming messages for
spam, because such filtering is nowhere mentioned in the extensive
information about Juno's anti-spam efforts which can be viewed at
www.juno.com.  Those efforts consist of suing spammers, especially those
who forge juno addresses, and applying strict rules against outgoing spam
from juno users, and not having open relays.

It is nearly impossible to spam using juno, because if a user sends out
more than 20 messages in a session, they get an automatic warning
message, and if a user attempts to send more than 50 messages the account
gets blocked.  It would seem to be a good idea for legitimate ISPs to
impose such automatic limits by default, only allowing those users who
can demonstrate a legitimate need to send bulk mail to have higher
limits.  But of course if all ISPs were 'legitimate', spam would be much
less a problem anyway.

Perhaps one reason I get so little spam is that I usually use a throwaway
juno address when I am asked to provide an email address in a commercial
situation, such as filling out a mail-in rebate form.  I check mail at
the throwaway address once a month or so, and that address actually gets
less spam than my main address, even though I have been using the same
throwaway address for several years.  But the throwaway address does get
plenty of ads from some of the companies to which I had directly provided
the address.  Given that I provided the address, I don't count those ads
as spam so long as the business is legitimate enough that it could be
expected to honor a remove request, and if it makes the removal process
easy.

For example, from a German company I downloaded some free software which
makes animated movies depicting gas molecule motion.  I'm glad I gave
them my throwaway address instead of the main one, because for years
afterwards they sent ads to that address.

Ron Kean

.

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