By Randall Hull

Tech Talk

This column offers solutions to personal technology questions from our readers. Neither the author nor this newspaper endorses products or companies mentioned.

Q: My e-mail box is getting so much “spam” each day I can’t even find the legitimate e-mail I want to read. What laws or resources are available to stop this annoying and insulting e-mail?

A: The sheer tonnage of unsolicited e-mail is choking the Internet. Worse, we end up paying for it through higher monthly fees from our e-mail providers. Spammers use many tricks to harvest e-mail addresses online. Here are some suggestions from Hotmail to help reduce spam.

Do:

- Remove yourself from any unprotected member directories.

- Open another e-mail account that you can use as an address for newsgroup and listserve publications or for posting on bulletin boards.

- Use the “Block Sender” option (or equivalent) in your e-mail software to block e-mail from specific senders or domains.

- Use any inbox protection filters of your e-mail software to route spam into a bulk mail folder or directly to the trash.

Don’t:

- Post to an online service or any Internet bulletin board.

- Post in a Usenet newsgroup or mailing list.

- Spend time in chat rooms or an online service that displays your address.

- Include yourself in an unprotected member directory of an online service.

- And never reply to unsolicited e-mail messages with a “remove” request, respond to the sender or click an embedded unsubscribe link. This only verifies they have reached “a live one” and will encourage even more spam! Don’t be fooled by the claim it is legal e-mail. If you didn’t “opt in,” it isn’t legal.

Depending on your e-mail application and provider, you may have options for blocking or filtering spam.

Most e-mail providers will take legal action against senders of unsolicited bulk e-mail. Check with your provider for their reporting e-mail address and procedures.

I posted a general procedure at www.brandranch.com/nospam.html.

If you are serious about quashing spam, there is a good online FAQ for uncovering the spam originator. Logon to home.bluemarble.net/~scotty/forgery.html.

The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email is a great anti-spam organization that offers advice and help. Logon to www.cauce.org.

SpamCop features a spam reporting service along with a variety of filtering options or e-mail accounts. Logon to spamcop.net.

Also, you can forward spam for tracking and regulation to the Federal Trade Commission at uce@ftc.gov. They require complete information in your spam report.

See the FAQ listed above for report preparation.

For Mac users there is SpamReporter, a nifty AppleScript that works in Microsoft Entourage. For more information, logon to www.railheaddesign.com.

Although the U.S. Congress hasn’t taken action, California approved anti-spam legislation in September 1998. The full text can be found at www.spamlaws.com/state/ca1.html.

Please keep questions to 100 words or less. Send to Tech Talk, Town Crier, 138 Main St., Los Altos 94022, or e-mail techtalk@latc.com.

Randall Hull is a Los Altos resident and owner of The Br@nd Ranch, a marketing firm.