Protect Yourself Against Spammers - March 2002
By Kelly Embleton

spam (spm) n. - Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail.

Spam e-mails are usually sent in mass mailings to thousands of people at once. Most spam e-mail messages contain promises of money, vacations, job opportunities and some contain profanity and pornographic images.

So how do I protect myself from receiving spam e-mail you ask? Here are a few ways to protect yourself and reduce the amount of spam you receive.

1. Don't Use Your Primary E-mail Address
Some Web sites require you to sign up with a valid e-mail address to access their services. After supplying your e-mail address you never know what will happen to it or who will get their hands on it unless the site states that your address is safe or confidential and will not be given to an outside party. For this reason, it is a good idea to have a second e-mail address so any junk or spam e-mail will go to this account. You can use a free Web-based e-mail service like Hotmail or Yahoo or a secondary address that is not as important as your primary one.

2. If You Don't Know Who The Message Is From, It's Probably Spam
If you receive messages from senders you are not familiar with, you can in most cases, assume it is spam. I would not recommend opening these or any attachments that may be in the message.

3. Sent To You Without Your Address On It
Most spam sent to you does not even have your e-mail address in the To: or CC: fields. You can usually set up spam filters in your mail program to send any messages that do not include your e-mail address to the trash or junk folders instead of your inbox.

4. Don't Believe the 'You Requested' Line
In most spam e-mail messages you can find these two words "You Requested" even if you did not request anything. Don't believe this or reply to the e-mail if your don't recognize the sender or the information sent to you.

5. Do Not Unsubscribe From Spammers
If you receive a message from a spammer do not believe any of the unsubscribe information. By unsubscribing, you have verified that your address is valid and active so they may send you more spam. The best solution is to put them in your spam filter and delete the message.

6. Be Sure Your ISP Provides a Strong Spam Policy
If you are using an Internet Service Provider (ISP), be sure that they offer a strong spam policy and obides by it. Make sure they do not allow their own customers to spam people and that they also have active anti-spam procedures on their server. This can reduce the amount of unwanted e-mail.

7. Set Up Your E-Mail Client
Almost all e-mail clients, (like Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora), have spam or junk mail settings or wizards you can configure to help control the amount of spam or junk mail you receive in your Inbox. These setting allow you to control spam e-mail messages by moving the messages to a folder you have specified or by allowing you to select keywords (select keywords you have seen in previous spam e-mails) and any e-mail containing those keywords will automatically be deleted.

Resources

• SideSite.net is a leading music directory search engine/music search engine. This site contains a great selection of music industry resources, music news, featured artists, featured releases and more. Visit SideSite.Net at www.sidesite.net.

• The Instrument Encyclopedia, located at www.si.umich.edu/chico/instrument, is a sampler of some of the world's most interesting musical instruments. The purpose of this site is to allow you to explore the diversity and creativity of musical traditions as you browse our gallery or search for a favourite instrument. You can also find a section called Resources for Educators that includes a glossary of musical terms, information about museum instrument collections in Canada and the United States, and other WWW sites featuring instrument collections.

• The Music Business.com is a leader in Music Business Education, Information and Development. This site is dedicated to building successful careers in the music/entertainment industry. Check it out at www.themusicbusiness.com.

• Are you planning on attending the 10th Annual Canada's Vintage Guitar Show? If so, visit www.vintageguitarshow.com for date and location info, exhibitor space, last year's show flashback, resources and more

• For complete information on this summer's MIAC Show, visit the newly designed Web site at www.miac.net. You can register for the show online, find out information about accommodations, travel, seminars, special social events and more.

• The National Association for Music Education has adopted NotationStation, the online music education environment operated by GVOX, as the Industry Standard for dissemination and development of national standards curriculum. The NotationStation platform works with the standard computer configurations and Internet connection found in most existing school labs. For the first time ever, music educators have the tools to overcome the obstacle of limited budgets and access technology funding to enhance their teaching methods. Visit the site at www.notationstation.net.

• Music Books Plus has greatly expanded their catalogue and now features online over 4,500 books, videos and CD-ROMs on music, recording, audio, songwriting, MIDI, multimedia and the Internet. You can join the electronic newsletter or request a printed catalogue online at www.musicbooksplus.com.
• Norris-Whitney Communications operates The Music & Audio Connection, the international on-line resource for music enthusiasts, musicians, music and audio professionals. Included are classified ads, products for sale, company showcases, discussion forums, associations, music education, music & audio resources, career information and file libraries. New additions are the Calendar Plus personal information systems and Music News, updated daily. Updates to the site are available by electronic newsletter. Visit at musicandaudio.com. For more information, e-mail to [email protected], Fax (905) 641-1648 or call (905) 641-3471.