Devil's Advocate: Life without spam

Since starting to write every week for silicon.com, Martin Brampton has encountered all types of offers and scams through his send-your-feedback-here email address. So where has he arrived at with his spam-avoiding tactics?

Spam is getting annoying. When it was last discussed, I was less than sympathetic, and my view has not changed. Whatever rules we introduce, the spammers just move around the world to escape legislation. There will always be somewhere that has lax rules and no enforcement.

Actually, I rather like some of them. Not many people write to me in such friendly terms as: “With warm hearts I offer my friendship, and my greetings, and I hope this letter meets you in good time.” Nor does everyone recognise my personal qualities as when the email continues: “I am particularly interested in dealing with you because I expect you to be reliable and be more helpful.” It is gratifying to be appreciated so much.

The emails that offer to turn me into a sex machine or enlarge my breasts are rather less tasteful. And those telling me that I can buy prescription medicines freely over the internet seem to suppose that I have all kinds of physical and mental deficiencies. It is a pity that in reality most of the spam is based on the assumption that I might be greedy and gullible.

Still, the ones that make brash advertising claims are quickly deleted. The scams are nearly as easy to spot and I delete any email that contains a figure of tens of millions of dollars. Oh, and anything about a lottery win goes straight to the trash folder.

Potentially more threatening are the viruses and worms that are attached to some of the unwanted emails. So far, none of them have got further than my inbox, and normally my anti-virus program sets off the alarm. But they are a nuisance and there is always a worry that something might get past the defences.

So, the time has come for action. First to go will be the email address silicon@black-sheep-research.co.uk. Because it has been published on the silicon.com web site for some time now, it is stuffed with junk, as well as the occasional interesting response from a reader. The Black Sheep Research website has been rejigged with a 'contact us' facility that doesn’t expose any email addresses, even within the hidden HTML.

Then it is time to change the special email address I give to people who are very likely to add it to one mailing list or another. My really personal email address is given to very few people, and consequently hardly ever gets any unwanted mail. It is easy enough to set up another email address, although it is a bit tiresome telling people of the change. Mostly, though, I don’t give the disposable address for anything that is really important.

Some people use a technique of only publishing email addresses on the internet in a form like john@NOSPAMbrown.com where the 'NOSPAM' has to be removed before it will work. The automated web crawlers that compile mailing lists for the spammers will pick up the bogus address, which is of no use to anyone.

In the UK, we have strict data protection laws, so it pays to look carefully for tiny tick boxes that allow us to opt out of unsolicited mail. Where people make the distinction, I usually accept mail from organisations with whom I have dealings but decline to be passed on to 'selected third parties'. I am not at all convinced that they are selected carefully enough.

Well, now that is all out of the way, back to the positive. I’m always delighted to receive feedback from readers, whether they agree with me or not. Even though much of the mass mail should be going straight to my trash folder, do please keep sending your views through the new links. And good luck evading the spammers!