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In 2003 Bill Gates head of Microsoft predicted and end to spam within 2 years!
It never happened, or came even close - in fact in 2005 Bill was getting 4 million emails a DAY and had a whole section devoted to dealing with it and the spam element that was a large part of that volume.
So why are we unlikely to see an end to Spam EMail for the long term foreseeable future?
- The number of spammers and the volume of spam is growing, some experts predict 90% of all email will be spam before long. Remember at best we are NOT stopping spam but using methods of detecting and deleting it, an endless task.
- EMail belongs to us all, it is as such a public system, available to anyone with an internet connection. By the end of 2005 there were over 1 BILLION homes and businesses connected to the Internet around the globe.
- Spammers can use YOUR computer to send spam by tapping into your address book, or using your email client via software or scripts they dropped on your computer via a spam email you received or something you downloaded.
- EMail is cheap, almost free so is an ideal communication tool and is growing in use internationally.
- Spammers can be mobile and move ISP, location and IP address regularly.
- Although some users complain about spam to ISPs the majority tolerate it as a " necessary evil ".
- Spamming is an automatic process - a computer can send tens of thousands of emails a day unattended.
- People actually do BUY from spammers so the effort and risk of spamming is worth it - until no-one buys from spammers it is still a profitable business to be a spammer.
- Email is now replacing direct mail and other forms of advertising as a form of marketing a companies products and services
- Spammers are hard to detect, they can electronically change their identity, create false locations and change as often as they like.
- EMail is international - you can reach customers, clients, members, prospects, friends or relatives in the same town or a village in a remote area of a foreign country with the same ease and cost.
Fighting Spam
Experts agree that to fight spam we must have a variety of approaches, ideally BEFORE email arrives at the users Inbox. Catching spam BEFORE it reaches your ISP gives a greater chance of stopping spam ever getting to your Inbox. Continue to learn and evolve better detection methods just as the spammers create new ways of sending spam to get their message across. Adopt "best practices" to reduce the amount of spam in circulation, make it harder for spammers, make spamming less attractive and profitable than it now is.
What things could end spam email, and how realistic are these options?
Make users pay to SEND each email - this would kill spammers dead, but would you pay for a service you currently get mainly for free? Get every user approved by a central body before they can send any mail at all - a sort of world central licensing - sounds crazy but there are a number of projects looking at that. Such an event would not be easy to organise due to the pure size of the internet and the fact it is international and growing minute by minute. Change the present email protocols to allow easier tracking of senders so any spammer can quickly be traced and legally dealt with. At present for every 1 spammer caught and fined dozens, even hundreds take their place. One ambitious project has been looking at this but implementation is unlikely due to cost and the sheer size of the internet. All internet users STOP buying from spammers - whilst it remains profitable spammers will continue - even if it takes a million emails to make a sale.
Found at spam-solution.net
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