Junk Mail

Please read below for tips and tricks to help you fight the problem of spam and junk mail.

You may find that the best recourse is simply deleting the messages as you receive them. However, If you would rather take more aggressive measures, or would just like to read up on spam, please continue below.

Junk mail or unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) or "spam" is a pervasive problem on the Internet. Many members of the UM community believe that because we are in a university setting, we should be protected from such junk mail. However, like any other Internet Service Provider (ISP), the University of Maryland is a target for junk mailers of all types. While our Policy on the Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources prohibit e-mail of this kind, it is difficult for us to enforce our policies on individuals outside of our community.

How can NEThics^sm help?
Over the years, Project NEThics^sm has exerted considerable effort lodging complaints with ISP's where spam mail originates. We monitor this mail and work with other ISPs to prevent further misuse of our computing resources. While most ISPs have similar policies and are supportive of our complaints to them, we have found that some ISPs are not responsive and do not even acknowledge receipt of our complaints. Furthermore, because spammers often use techniques such as forgery and hacking to send out their e-mail, it is often difficult for even well-meaning ISPs to stem the tide of junk mail. Much to our dismay, although we have lodged thousands of complaints with ISPs over the years, there is no evidence that this has any effect upon the flow of junk e-mail into the university. Your best recourse against spam is the delete key.

* ADVOCATE FOR YOUR INBOX *

Here are some directions for filing spam complaints:

If you wish to lodge a complaint about spam, you must first be able to access the full headers of the e-mail. You may need to select a "Show All Headers" option in your e-mail software in order to do this. You can tell whether they are included by looking for lines that begin with the word "Received:" in the header lines at the top of the message. Here is a helpful URL which includes directions for accessing full headers in a variety of e-mail software: SpamCop.

Once you can see the headers, you start with the bottom-most "Received:" line and highlight and copy the IP that is listed. Next, go to www.arin.net and paste it in the top search box and hit the "Search" button. The following page will tell you all of the information on the spammer's ISP. However, please note that sometimes you will get a page that has links to a couple ranges of IPs. In this case, you choose the bottom-most range. And sometimes you will get an "IANA" number, which means that it is unassigned and you should go back to the headers in the e-mail and pull out the next IP (above the one you just used). Sometimes you will get a "RIPE" or "LATNIC" IP (for overseas ISPs), and you must go to their respective website to re-lookup the IP on their database (the link is provided on the page).

How to set up filters
Frustrated by the flow of spam mail in their e-mail accounts, many users on campus contact us requesting us to "block" spam mail from reaching them at all. However, mail of this type is difficult to filter out at the network level. At the point of it entering the network, the filtering capability only exists at the broadest level of header information: subject heading, sender information (e.g., yahoo.com). As you can imagine, filtering out messages from "yahoo.com" could result in legitimate mail being prevented from reaching the intended recipients. (And, because spammers almost always use forged e-mail addresses, would not ultimately have the intended effect.) However, at an individual level, you may find that the junk mail you're receiving has some common features that distinguish it from your legitimate e-mail. If this is the case, you can install filters in your e-mail software to manage unwanted e-mail. E-mail filtering instructions for a variety of clients is available at www.helpdesk.umd.edu/documents/4/4384

Should I click Remove me or Opt out?
Though your first instinct may be to reply to the message and ask to be removed from the sender's mailing list, unless the e-mail comes from a company you recognize and have done business with (such as amazon.com), we do not recommend replying to "Remove" e-mail addresses. Replying to spam mail can be counter-productive, actually confirming that your e-mail address is active and inviting more unwanted e-mail to your account!

Why me?
One common concern about junk mail is whether you've been specially targeted to receive it and, more generally, how the mailers got your address. Spammers often assemble their mailing lists from e-mail addresses gleaned off the Web. If your e-mail address is posted on a Web site - such as a departmental directory - that's probably where the spammer got it. Go to any Web search engine and enter your e-mail address - you may be surprised at what you find!

What else can I do?
If setting up filters in your e-mail software doesn't make a dent in the unwanted mail you're receiving and hitting the delete key only makes you frustrated, there are other techniques you might try. Because spam is such a pervasive problem on the Internet, there are a number of great Web sites that offer information about spam as well as tips, advice, and even products and services for fighting spam - you may find that one of these techniques works for you. And at the very least, these sites might offer you some comfort in knowing that you are not alone in your fight against spam.