Spam is unsolicited email advertising a product or service, often harmful. Some spam may contain viruses or spyware, while others may be malicious and not intended to advertise. Many countries have tried to regulate spam, but it is difficult to find offenders. The US Congress has passed legislation regulating spam, but it may not be effective. The best option is to use an email system that filters spam, but this may also filter out legitimate emails.
Spam is unsolicited e-mail sent for the purpose of advertising a product or service, usually to an unrelated potential customer. Its equivalent in the physical world is junk mail that arrives unsolicited in recipients’ mailboxes. Spam is considered a major nuisance by many in the computer world and can be harmful as well.
In some cases, email masquerading as spam may actually be malicious in nature and not intended to advertise a product or service at all. In these cases, senders devise a way to make the email look like spam in the hope that the recipients will visit a website, where viruses can be downloaded onto their computers. While not true spam, unsolicited emails make malicious intent harder to find.
The most harmful type of true spam can be one that downloads spyware or adware onto a user’s computer. In such cases, the emails can direct users to a particular site where this software is downloaded. Then, the software might cause malfunctions or pop-up messages that look very official, warning users that they need to purchase a certain product to clean up their computers.
Due to the problems caused by spam, many countries have tried to regulate spam and hold the companies that send it accountable. However, this has been met with constitutional challenges in some cases, especially in the United States. Due to free speech issues, outlawing spam becomes problematic and many laws have been overturned.
Therefore, understanding that there would be constitutional challenges to outlawing spam entirely, the US Congress has passed legislation regulating the use of spam. Some things must be present in any unsolicited email such as: an option to allow recipients to be removed from the mailing list, a company physical address and phone number, and other things. Even the sending of pornographic images is restricted. Each breach can cost $11,000 US Dollars (USD), making it a very expensive way for companies to advertise.
The problem many encounter with regulating spam is that it may not originate within the borders of the regulating country. Therefore, finding offenders, known as spammers, becomes nearly impossible and prosecuting those people becomes even more problematic. Many may not be traceable and those that are may be in countries where there are very few, if any, anti-spam laws. Therefore, any laws remain only partially effective at best.
To counter the ineffectiveness of anti-spam laws, your best option may be an email system that filters perceived spam mail. Usually, this is sent to a dedicated folder within your email software. However, this does not fully protect you because most anti-spam software can unintentionally filter out valid email. Therefore, users still need to check the filtered email to make sure that they do not miss any legitimate email.
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