Stopping Spam

Opt-outs:

• Opt-out generally only works with legitimate businesses

• In some cases, attempting to opt-out may mark you as a "live" address

• Not always an options

ISP Complaints:

• Need to locate the ISP from the spam

• Must make sure that the spam is not really from an opt-out list

• May not work- or be feasible- if the ISP is located outside the U.S.

• Requires a significant amount of work for each spam source

Both opt-out and ISP complaints only get rid of a single spam source at a time!

Technical Solutions:
Can generally be grouped into net-based filters, statistical filters, and general filters
Many free options (particularly for Unix), but also a variety of pay-services and -software
General Filter: Procmail filtering (Unix)- moderately effective, but labor intensive.  Pre-built rule sets are available.
Statistical: Mozilla (Windows and Unix), SpamBayes Outlook plug-in (Windows)
Network-based: Cloudmark Spamnet (Windows) (subscription)
Some are plug-ins for Email clients (Outlook, etc.), others are POP3 proxies
Combination: Spamassassin (Unix and Windows)- uses multiple sources to "score" messages
ISP-level filtering (any platform)

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