There is probably no more hotly debated nor misunderstood subject on the net than SPAM. Many people take anecdotal tales as fact. The fact is that there are only so many ways a Spammer can get your email address. To begin with, Spammers do not care enough about individuals to go to any length to treat them individually. They send out bulk mailings to thousands of email addresses at one time. Where do they get these email addresses? Mostly from internet devices known as bots or spiders that parse publically available pages for email addresses. These pages include:
- Any personal page with a simple email link on it.
- Any forum that allows the general public to see the posts.
- Group archive pages that are open to public viewing in email lists such as Yahoo or MSN groups.
- Any open usenet news group.
- Guest books.
- Online petitions.
If your email address appears on any of the above, whether you posted it or someone else did, you can bet you will get plenty of SPAM. Another sure-fire way to get SPAM is to unsubscribe from a spammer's list. That is the one way they know your email address is a valid one.
Can a Spammer tell whether or not you open his email? It is easy enough to do, if each email has an image or other file embedded in it with a unique URL. Remember, Spammers do not care about you and certainly will not take the time to send you personalized messages. It is a safe bet that opening SPAM will not generate more SPAM.
Can a Spammer get your email address when you visit a web page? Absolutely not. There is no way a simple page visit gives the server any personal information about you. Scripts that show your browser info and WebTV settings are javascripts that work in your box and have nothing to do with what the server "sees" of the visitor. Neither your email address, user name, zip code, password, phone number, nor dial up number can be read by a server. PC users can pick up spyware from web sites, but WebTV can not be affected by such software. Browser sniffers only see browser profiles -- not user profiles nor email settings.
Can a Spammer get your email address from posts in MSNTV NGs? Absolutely not. They are firewalled and can not be seen by bots and spiders. If a post is copied or forwarded to one of the "web pages" in the above list, then of course it is open to addy hunters.
Of my six WebTV users, one has been to more web pages than all the rest combined. As a matter, of fact it has been to every page that all the others have. I have posted a few times with it in MSNTV NGs. I have never gotten any Spam at that address. The others have one thing in common -- they have all posted to Yahoo, or similar groups. They all get Spam, including one that has never surfed nor sent email other than to post to one Yahoo group about a dozen times.
Spammers do not find your email address by "reading" your profile when you open email or visit a web page. They find it where you or others post it or in forms that you submit it to cgi scripts, such as E-Cards, guest books and online petitions.
Of my 5 PC email addresses, none recieve Spam.
If you, or anyone else, puts your addy out there, the Spammers will find it. If it stays within firewalled NGs and closed egroups, the Spammers will NEVER find it.
Until next time, blessings to all.
