Tomorrow's World

Many Internet users wonder why they get so much spam.

Remember in order for you to receive a spam message, spammers must first get hold of your e-mail address. They do this in several ways :-

  • Special programs called harvesters or robots search every page on the Internet for e-mail addresses.

  • If you post to a legimate newsgroup on the Internet, you may often find your e-mail address posted in their archives.

  • Some viruses are designed so that your e-mail address and all the others in your address book are sent to a spammer.

  • Spammers also generate e-mail addresses for domains that may have a sequence. Thus, you might get e-mails to a102, a103, a104 etc. at the same domain.

  • Sometimes they even do it semi-legitimately by buying a list from a company, who decides to sell on your name, address and e-mail address. They probably shouldn't, but just think why do you get all that junk mail from the postman.

As a simple test to show that even I have got it wrong myself, I did a search using Google for my e-mail address, . Shown are some of the results that I obtained.

Searching for James Miller's E-Mail Address

Oh Dear!

The first was found in a PowerPoint presentation, the second in a web page and the third on a group against the Death Penalty that I belong to. Not good at all!