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While the Federal Trade Commission is busy fighting over definitions of “What is SPAM;” Microsoft and Bill Gates are taking it to the enemy. Today Microsoft announced another case and legal action, which is being taken against a spammer who is in Germany. Microsoft did not announce the name of the company it has filed suit against but it is based in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The company is alledged to have sent millions of SPAM emails advertising various things including web design companies, porn and online casinos. You probably have even had to delete a few of them yourself recently. Many Hotmail email addresses received these SPAMs and the company was able to fool the SPAM blockers set up by Microsoft. The Westphalia firm denied charges and said it was one of his partners, not him? The company ran a network out of the Ukraine said Microsoft on the Belyfish and stated: “In the context of these offers the deplored one offers at present US dollar also 750 to million E-Mail addresses for $499.00″

Not only did it send these SPAM emails it was actively recruiting more customers and clients to do the same for them. Thank you Microsoft; what is up with the FTC these days? Definitions? Think about it?

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

As the popularity of credit cards and Internet shopping grow, so does the chance that you will become a victim of Identity Theft. One’s information can be easily accessed by anyone who has your social security number and other identifying information such as credit card bills or processed checks.

Before becoming a victim of identity theft you can go on the offensive and practice prevention in 10 basic steps. These steps will not guarantee that your information does not get into the hands of a criminal, but it gives you a better chance against a syndicate of International identity thieves.

1. Buy a Shredder. Shredding your old bills, invoices, receipts and credit & bank statements is the first and possibly most effective way to stop dumpster divers from access your information. Before throwing away anything with private information, shred it.

If you’re not sure that the info can be used to steal your identity, shred it anyway.

2. When using an ATM be weary of those standing next to you. If someone is standing too close behind you, do not be afraid to ask them to step back.

3. Hidden camera detectors. In addition to prying eyes, also be aware of surveilance devices in stores, ATMs, gas stations, and anywhere you may be using a credit card or signing your name. There are many small and affordable hidden camera frequency detectors on the market. For more information see AntiSpyCam.com.

4. Treat your checks like money. Would you stuff your mailbox with wads of cold cash? Mail theft is probably easier than dumpster diving when it comes to stealing private information, and much cleaner. Mail checks by dropping them off at the Post Office and if you do order bank checks via the web or mail, have them delivered via registered mail or FedEx.

5. Biometrics services like fingerprint or voice recognition are becoming popular in the war against identity theft or account hacking. Voice biometrics works by digitizing a profile of a person’s speech to produce a stored model voice print. Many banks are now offering this service, ask yours about adding this to your bank account security options. More info on Voice Biometrics at VoiceVerified.com

6. Make a list of all of your credit card numbers, passwords, usernames and bank account numbers and guard them in a safe place. Do not keep them on your computer, especially if you use peer to peer file sharing software.

7. When applying for a credit card request that your photo be placed on the card. There are also companies which will place your photo on your checks. For more information see UniqueChecks.com

8. Write on the back of your credit card “Ask To See My ID” , most people at the register treat credit cards like cash not asking for ID. If they do not ask or forget to do so, ask them why they have not.

9. When you move be sure to register your new forwarding address with the Post Office and also inform all of your credit cards, banks, and subscriptions services personally of your new address. If they are still sending private information to your old address, cancel your card or account.

10. Don’t carry your social security number or credit cards you don’t use on you. You are not required to carry a social security card so lock it up. If you’re not using your credit cards, keep them in a safe place with your social security card.

Mrs. Suzuki is a freelance technology and marketing writer and has never had her identity stolen.

Picture yourself walking down the street, all alone. It’s late at night. It’s a bit brisk, and the wind is blowing through the tall buildings on both sides of you. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, someone runs by you, knocks you over, grabs your wallet, and takes off.

It sounds like a scene from a movie, and there may come a time in the future where this type of person-to-person crime is only found in movies. Why would anyone rob a bank, or rob an individual, when they could simply use a person’s information to obtain employment, credit cards, and lines of credit?

By now, everyone knows what Identity Theft is. Identity Theft has been showing up in the news for several years, and there has been a large public awareness campaign since the FTC Report in September 2003.

In their report, the FTC shared that the average Identity Theft victim spends over $1,400.00, and more than 200 hours, just to clear their good name. Reports now are saying that victims can end up spending much, much more in terms of time, money, and frustration.

Other people may be willing to spend that kind of time and money, but if you don’t have an extra $1400 or 200 hours, read on!

What is Identity Theft?

Identity Theft couldn’t happen to me, right?

What can I do to protect myself?

There is good news.

Identity Theft Insurance?

What is Identity Theft?

ID Theft happens when someone takes any piece of your personal information, and fraudulently uses it to obtain access to your credit, bank accounts, or to obtain employment.

How can it happen?

There are literally thousands of ways your information can be stolen, and, as Harris County district attorney Chuck Rosenthal knows, if it can happen to him, it is proof that identity theft and fraud can happen to anyone. “Rosenthal said nearly $8,000 was stolen from his account before it was discovered […] He said that he still has problems because of the crime — his check was refused when he tried to buy supplies for his daughter.”

There are thousands of stories like this one, which you have already been hearing about in your local or national news.

What can you do to protect yourself?

To be proactive, here are what the “experts” are telling you to do. Read this list carefully, and while you do, think about what it would mean in added time and frustration for your life:

Avoid giving out your Social Security number…Shred or destroy bank and/or credit card information…Shred or destroy any credit card or other direct mail offers…Create passwords containing numbers and letters…Avoid buying or making donations via the phone…Buy goods online only from a reputable Web site…Install a computer firewall at home… Read the privacy statements for all your accounts and your bank’s liability clauses…Check your credit report more frequently… Use only one credit card for purchases… Avoid shopping online… Update your computer virus protection daily… Install Spyware software on your computer to be sure that you’re not accidentally having your keystrokes recorded… Drop your mail in the blue post boxes, not in your mailbox… Don’t leave mail in your mailbox overnight or on weekends… While you’re at it, sign up for a locked mailbox, because you can’t trust that your mail will stay in your mailbox… The list goes on…and on…and on…

The “experts” are telling you to rearrange your entire life to proactively defend yourself against Identity Theft. However, what no one is telling you is this:

There is no 100% guarantee that your information won’t be used. No matter what you do, you are as likely a target for Identity Theft as any other person you know.

Approximately 2,500 Washington County (Maryland) Board of Education employees discovered this when their Social Security numbers, names, birth dates and other private information were accidentally posted on the school system’s web site for up to 45 days during 2004.

Consumer Reports states, “It is an equal-opportunity crime, affecting victims of all races, incomes, and ages. Overall, more than 33 million Americans, about 1 in 6 adults, say they have had their identities used by someone else sometime since 1990.”

There is good news

If you become a victim of Identity Theft, you basically have two choices. You can try to handle it on your own, or you can let a professional help you.

If you try to handle it on your own, you might try to contact the Better Business Bureau (BBB). A visit to the BBB’s web site reveals this statement:

“If your complaint is against the identity thief, it is unlikely that the BBB can assist you. We urge you to report the identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission.

So you visit the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) web site, where you read the statement: “The FTC serves as the federal clearinghouse for complaints by victims of Identity Theft. While the FTC does not resolve individual consumer problems, your complaint helps us investigate fraud, and can lead to law enforcement action.”

In other words, the BBB and FTC will give you information on how to spend 200 hours and $1400, and will let you report information to them which can “lead to law enforcement action.”

Beyond that, you’re on your own, because they will not work to restore your individual credit. But they will send you a 25 page book with some very helpful information. Good luck.

This is not to fault the BBB or FTC. It’s only to say that they do not have the resources to, on a daily basis, help over 27,000 people restore their good name and credit. Clearly, Americans need a different kind of help to resolve this issue.

Identity Theft Insurance?

Several companies, including Citibank and the three credit repositories, are offering different kinds of credit monitoring services. You have probably seen the very funny Citibank ads, promoting the protection of your information from thieves, and as a result of the ID Theft epidemic, Citibank now offers protection for their credit cards. This is an excellent idea, but credit card fraud only accounts for approximately 40% of Identity Theft cases.

What about the other 60% of identity theft cases? Well, most often, they happen when someone is using your name to obtain credit or employment. The three credit bureaus have stepped in to offer you credit monitoring services, which will let you track what is going on with your credit on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. This way, if your information is being used by someone you don’t know, you will know about it the day it happens and, ideally, you’ll be able to do something about it. The cost ranges from $4.95/month to $19.95/month. With these services, you’re generally still on your own to get the issue resolved, but hopefully the early detection will help you be able to resolve the issue in less than 200 hours, and with less than $1,400.00.

Another company has stepped in, because they have seen this trend, and the need that consumers have for protection from identity theft. Kroll Worldwide is the world’s foremost risk consulting company. They’ve been responsible for things like:

Tracking Saddam Hussein’s money after the first Gulf War, creating an evacuation plan for the Sears Tower and many of the world’s tallest buildings, and handling high profile cases such as the Enron debacle.

Kroll has created a product which not only monitors credit on a daily basis, and (like the credit repositories) gives you credit reports in a way that you can understand them, but they also assign a personal licensed investigator to you, who will do the work along side of you, to get your credit and identity restored and to track down the thief who committed the crime. This saves you time and money

Identity Theft shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, many state and federal law enforcement agencies are predicting that the problem will get worse before it gets better. Other companies are sure to follow the lead of Kroll in providing Identity Theft solutions. Probably no other company will be able to match the background and experience of a company like Kroll, but they will create similar products to help consumers, and within the next 3-5 years, Identity Theft protection will become an important part of the insurance-type products we use to protect ourselves on a daily basis.

In short, what the experts aren’t telling you is this:

There is no guaranteed way to protect your information,

In an advanced age of rapid and electronic banking and communication, your information is publicly available to anyone who wants to find it,

If you’ve been a victim before, you’re more likely to become a victim again, and

Identity Theft, as a crime, is here to stay.

Changing the way that you do things reduces the likelihood that you will become a victim, but you have no way of being sure that your information will stay your information.

The real state of affairs today is that you are walking down that dark street on a windy night, and someone robs you, but you don’t know it, or feel it, for days, weeks, or months.

Having Identity Theft protection with highly qualified companies like Kroll is like walking down that street, knowing that you have a highly trained personal bodyguard watching your back and walking by your side.

About The Author

Jonathan Kraft is a specialist in computer-related Identity Theft and options within the legal system. For more information on how you can protect yourself and make sure that your information stays your information, visit www.consumerfairplay.com/idtheft.html

Do you need help adding RSS feeds to your blogger? It’s really easy and here is how you can do it:

Log into your blogger account

Go to “settings”

Go to “site feed”

Copy the “site feed url”

Then go to www.feedburner.com

Scroll down to “try feedburner today” and paste your “site feed url” and then click next. You’ll be at “select services” There are lots of options on that page and you can look through them all, but to get to the feeds you need to go to the bottom of that page and click on “next”.

Then you can log in or sign up. It’s free to sign up. After you fill in your info then click and that page will allow you to “activate your feed”. Click on that and then click on “launch your publicity tools” and then click on “chicklet chooser”. Then you have many options. I personally always choose the “my yahoo”, “my msn”, “newsgator” and “xml”. Click on each one and you’ll see the code you need to grab. You have to do it for each one.

Then just go back to your template and put it in. You’re set.
As you can see there are other different things you can do too. So look around in there and check them all out.

But that is just the very basics of getting a feed up.
Now, when you get that feed added let me know so I can add you to my personal “my yahoo” page!

Nell Taliercio is the owner of a leading work at home mom resource website packed full of unique information for the telecommuter, business owner and virtual assistant.

Visit http://www.mommysplace.net today!

If you want to be able to read RSS feeds then you are going to need an RSS reader. The types of RSS reader that are available to you come in two flavours. There is the desktop RSS reader and there are the online or web RSS readers.

Choosing your RSS readers need not be a difficult task, to be quite honest most RSS reader software performs much the same task. It downloads the RSS file and parses it into a readable format for you. Rather than trying to ram this or that product down your throat I am going to tell you what to look for in an RSS reader and share my personal preference.

Now I think the first and most important feature you will look for in your reader is price. Lets face it most of the software out there today is free so a fee based solution had better be outstanding. One free solution I did try but did not like, just my preference is Amphtadesk. This run from your desktop but displays the feeds as a webpage. This offering is open source and runs cross platform.

Another feature you need to look for is ease of use. You don’t want to spend hours trying to figure out how subscribe to a feed. Again this is going to be your own preference as everyone has their own abilities. I would suggest that if you can’t subscribe to a feed after a few minutes then you are probably using the wrong software for you.

A feature you will need in your RSS reader is the ability to import and export your OPML file. This is a file that holds all of your RSS feed subscription addresses, just like a list of email addresses. You will probably try several RSS readers over time before you settle on one you like. Without OPML you will have to manually subscribe to all of your feeds if you change your RSS reader.

Speed is of the essence. The more feeds you subscribe to the longer it will take to download them. I have used one desktop based RSS reader that took fifteen minutes at each update to download and parse the feeds. If your RSS reader turns out to be slow, dump it, there are plenty more out there.

I went through this process a while back and went through dozens of RSS readers. I finally settled on Bloglines, a web based RSS reader. There are other web based RSS readers out there, here is a list of RSS readers that I know of. I chose Bloglines as it was fast and easy to use and continues to work well for me.

You can find out more about RSS at Newsniche and how it can help you.

1. Ignore Spam Email

Do not open an unsolicited email. Spammers are just playing a numbers game. They simply send out like a million emails and hope that at least a third of them stick.

Spammers try to gather as many email addresses as they can. They don’t even know if any of the addresses are active. It is when you answer them that they know whether or not it is an active account that is checked often.

2. Do NOT Click On the Unsubscribe Links

It is natural for you to want to click on the link at the bottom of the email that promises that you can be taken off of their email list, but do not think for a second that this is what happens.

When you click on the “click here if you wish to stop receiving these emails” link, the spammers simply change the name that sends it to you. All you have proven is that you are indeed opening and reading emails.

3. Use Various Email Addresses

Since it is unavoidable to receive spam, set up a “dummy” email address. You would use this address when you register for newsletters, order products, enter contests, and register your new software.

You would like to avoid using you primary email address, or the email address that you receive from your ISP for things like that. This is the email that you would give your contacts or “safe people”.

4. Don’t Post Your Address

If you have a web site, avoid posting your email address in your “contact me” section.
Since spammers scan through web sites and look for the @ symbol, write your email address with the word “at” instead.

That makes it a bit more difficult for spammers to find your email address because they use special software that searches for the symbol, and not just the words.

5. Do Not Purchase from Spam

The absolute worst thing that you could do is buy something from spam. Just imagine how perfect the world would be if everyone gathered together to refuse to buy things that were offered in an unsolicited email. Spammers would be out of business the moment that they realized that they weren’t getting anywhere.

6. Beware of Free Trial Software

For every legitimate download, there are plenty that are designed to get your personal information, which will eventually lead you to more spam. This is particularly popular from free trial software as well as free software.

Spammers use this method in a similar manner as they would use a gift promotion and contest sign in. That is one of the most beneficial ways for spammers to get you on their hook.

Visit Stop Spam Center for the latest news and information about how to block spam.

For a law to take effect on the U.S. federal level, both the House and the Senate must pass the bill and then the President of the United States must sign the bill into law.

Last year we almost got a SPAM law on the books when House legislators approved their version of the SPAM bill, H. R. 3113, the “The Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail Act of 2000″, with a vote of 427-1.

However, it never came close to becoming law because the Senate never even voted on it.

This year, there are already several attempts being made to place SPAM under the law.

The most recognized is known as bill HR 95, which is a re-introduction of H. R. 3113 from last year and is named: “To protect individuals, families, and Internet service providers from unsolicited and unwanted electronic mail.” http:/ homas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:h.r.00095:

A SUMMARY AS OF: 1/3/2001–Introduced.

“Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail Act of 2001 - Amends the Federal criminal code to provide criminal penalties for intentionally initiating the transmission of any unsolicited commercial electronic mail message (message) to a protected computer in the United States with the knowledge that any domain name or other initiator identifying information contained in or accompanying such message is false or inaccurate.

Prohibits any person from sending such a message unless the message contains a valid e-mail address, conspicuously displayed, to which a recipient may send notice of a desire not to receive further messages.

Makes it unlawful for a person to initiate the transmission of such a message in violation of a policy regarding unsolicited commercial e-mail messages that complies with specified requirements, including requirements for notice and public availability of such policy and for an opportunity for subscribers to opt not receive such messages.

Directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to notify violators under this Act, to prohibit further initiation of such messages, and to require the initiator to delete the names and e-mail addresses of the recipients and providers from all mailing lists.

Provides a right of action by a recipient or provider against e-mail initiators who violate the above requirements. “

As bill HR 95 stands right now, it is not expected to pass vote in the House for two reasons, even though the language of the bill is exactly the same as that passed last year in a vote of 427-1:

First, because of the language that allows for a one-time email to be sent so long as a valid return email address is provided by the sender and the sender removes anyone the so requests to be removed from that mailing list.

Although this is the same exact language that was included in the bill that passed the House last year, many SPAM fanatics are raising objections to its’ inclusion in the bill this year.

Second, is the language in the last paragraph that would allow a “right of action by a recipient or provider”, the problem being that the law would allow Internet Service Providers, ISP’s, to file for monetary damages against spammers to the tune of $500 per email sent or $50,000 per mailing incident.

Opponents argue that ISP’s would be filing against anyone that might be accused of SPAM, guilty or not, in hopes of reaping big financial gains.

Considering how SPAM compalints are often handled these days with innocent people having their services terminated or web site shut down without even having allegations of SPAM investigated, perhaps there is reason for such fears of abuse.

A search of both the Senate, http://www.senate.gov/ and the House, http:/ homas.loc.gov/ found only the following under The keyword “Spam”:

Two other bills introduced in the House are:

1. Wireless Telephone Spam Protection Act - H.R.113 : http:/ homas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c107:1:. emp/~c107WLOF59::

2. Anti-Spamming Act of 2001 - H.R. 1017: This Act may be cited as the `Anti-Spamming Act of 2001′ http:/ homas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c107:2:. emp/~c107WLOF59::

Rep. Gene Green, from the 29th District in Texas and is the sponsor of HR 95, so if you wish to make any suggestions or comments on the proposed Spam Law, he can be reached by any of the following:

HON. GENE GREEN 2335 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-1688 Fax: (202) 225-9903

HON. GENE GREEN 256 N. Sam Houston Pkwy. E., Suite 29 Houston, TX 77060 (281) 999-5879 Fax: (281) 999-5716

If you would like to send him an email, you may do so by visiting his official web site at: http://www.house.gov/green/ and filling out the supplied form.

I received an email the other day from a work at home mom who recently started a small publishing company. She wanted to start selling advertising to other WAHM businesses but was concerned about bulk emailing them… with good reason.

Spam is the four-letter word that most offends those of us working online. Everyone with a website receives it and like bad art, we all know it when we see it. But also -like art- in a way, spam is in the eye of the beholder. I have participated in discussions that disintegrated because each member had his or her own definition of spam and was angry at those who disagreed.

In the offline world, it is perfectly acceptable to cold-call or snail mail a business to tell them about a product or service you offer. When I worked in an office environment, I took such calls all the time. Often, I said ‘no thank you’ and that was the end of it. But every once in a while, the call came in at just the time I was searching for such an item - and a sale would be made.

Of course, the power and low-cost of email make this an inexact comparison. So what do you do when you have a product or service that you *know* your target market *needs* — and you want to use the power of the Internet to let them know about it?

THE PERSONAL APPROACH

The keywords are ‘target market.’ Find out who they are by doing an Internet search to find them. Check out sites which include directories of businesses in your target market. Then, visit those sites - and send their owners a *personal* email pitching your product. Be sure to use their *names* and comment on something you learn about their businesses from their sites. If they offer newsletters, sign up for them and comment upon something you read there. This establishes a prior business relationship and is not considered spam by *most* people.

However, even this personal approach will offend *some* webmasters, and it will cost you a lot of time relative to the number of people you reach. A more efficient means of getting your message out would be to join discussion groups geared to your audience and announce your product there.

ONLINE NETWORKING THROUGH DISCUSSION LISTS

But message boards and discussion lists have their own spam issues. When joining a list, you must read their guidelines and follow them. Sending out a blatant advertisement to the members of a discussion list will not be tolerated - but you are welcome to describe your business where it is *appropriate* (i.e., someone asks where they can find a product just like yours and you announce that you just happen to sell that).

You are also allowed to put information in your sig line that directs people to your website - so whenever you contribute to the discussion, you have an opportunity to promote your business.

When you join, sit back for a couple of days and follow the conversation so you can get a feel for the tone of the discussion, the people involved and what is customary among them. Then, introduce yourself as a new member (which also give you an opportunity to bring up the subject of your business, website, product - within the guidelines they set when you join).

An added benefit to marketing through discussion groups is the fact that you will build new relationships with other business people that can lead to joint ventures, assistance and even friendship. In the offline world, it is similar to being part of a chamber of commerce or other networking group and it works just as well on the web.

At the ParentPreneur Club, we have our own discussion group, PPC Advisory, where members brainstorm the issues they face as work at home parents. To join, email < mailto:ppca-subscribe@topica.com > .

Here are more of my favorite groups targeted to work at home parents. You’ll find others specific to your needs by searching for them at < http://www.yahoogroups.com > and < http://www.topica.com >

< mailto:clubmom-affiliates-subscribe@yahoogroups.com > This group is made up of members of the Club Mom affiliate program. All members have websites with mom-related content and products, which makes them ideal partners for the Club Mom membership program. You must be an affiliate of Club Mom to be a member of this list.

< mailto:DirectSelling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com > For direct sales consultants who exchange ideas and suggestions on building a client base, fund raising, recruiting, booking, inspiration, motivation, party games, contests, merchandising, holiday ideas and more.

< mailto:EP-subscribe@yahoogroups.com > This is a function of the Entrepreneurial Parents (http://www.en-parent.com ) website. A forum for Entrepreneurial Parents (EPs) to connect directly with each other, discussing topics ranging from balancing work and family under one roof, to sharing practical business tips, to collective brainstorming, to supporting each other in responsible parenthood.

< mailto:themompack-subscribe@yahoogroups.com > The MomPack (TM) is a cooperative, not-for-profit organization, founded by working moms, run by working moms and for working moms to exchange business information amongst each other to help promote and advertise each other’s businesses on and offline.

DON’T FORGET THE SEARCH ENGINES!

Do not overlook the value of getting your site listed in search engines, which will bring prospective customers to *you*. There are still many engines that will list your site for free. If you plan to do this yourself, walk do not run to < http://www.jimtools.com >. Jim Wilson carries one of the most complete free site submission resources we have seen.

Merle at < http://www.mcpromotions.com > also has a wealth of resources at her site. She specializes in promoting websites and handles our monthly search engine submissions for the ParentPreneur Club. Her prices are very reasonable.

GET PUBLICITY

Press releases should be part of your marketing plan, as well. There is nothing so cost effective as having your business mentioned in an offline publication or other medium. One newspaper article could result in dozens of leads for your business. Karon Thackston has put together a free email course on how to write effective press releases. To receive it, send a blank email to < mailto:pressrelease@zipresponse.com > Karon can also handle your PR needs. < http://www.ktamarketing.com >

Another interesting offer comes from JeriLynn Thomas of the Womens News Bureau. Jerilynn is offering a PR Boot Camp tailored to the needs of female entrepreneurs. Check it out at < http://www.womensnewsbureau.com/prbootcamp.htm >

EZINE ADVERTISING

Finally, there will come a time when you will need to pay for some advertising. Ezines that go out to your target audience give you a big bang for your advertising buck - your cost per thousand (CPM) is generally way less than what you could expect to pay in other media. Most sites that publish an ezine carry an advertising page.

We could devote several more articles to the particulars of writing ads and creating marketing campaigns. The one thing you need to keep in mind is that writing advertising copy is not an exact science. No one can guarantee how your audience will respond to an ad, no matter how well you think it turned out. The big marketers always test ads first and we suggest you do. You can buy ezine ads at deep discounts at < http://www.ezineadauction.com > (another site run by Merle of MCPromotions). We use it ourselves to sell remnant space in our ezines and have bought ads in other newsletters at a fraction of their published rates. This is a great resource for anyone who needs to advertise their businesses.

As you can see, there are lots of low-cost options for promoting your business online that do not entail bulk email. They’re easy to implement and are proven to work… try them and see!

A common way for spammers to create their vast lists of email addresses is to cull web pages for “mailto:” tags. There are many different programs, available for small to huge costs, which will do this automatically, easily and efficiently.

I monitor my web site log files on a regular basis, and I’m always amazed at the vast numbers of spam harvesting programs that regularly scan my pages. Not only do these obnoxious things steal email addresses, they use bandwidth which I pay for without any kind of compensation. I put up my web pages for people to read not for some scumbag spammer to scan them.

There are many ways to combat the spammer. None of these methods are perfect. As in any war, both sides are continually developing new weapons to use against the other. New methods work for a short time until the enemy comes up with countermeasures and overcomes the weapon.

One of the more effective ways to confuse the spammer (not hard because they don’t tend to be very bright) is the “poison pill” defense. This consists of handing the spam harvesting robots some pages which appear juicy, full of yummy email addresses ripe for the picking.

The email address on these pages are fake. They have nothing to do with reality and exist only to choke the spam robots, causing them to overflow and possibly even crash.

Here’s how a typical poison pill works. A script is created which performs all of these tasks. It is important that the scripting be done on the server, so CGI, ASP, PHP or a similar scripting language must be used. Server side scripting must be used because many spam robots are not smart enough to understand client-side scripting languages such as JavaScript.

The script creates a page which appears in all ways to be a normal document in a web site. The page may include some text informing human visitors of the intention (this is important so any people who see the page are not confused).

It also needs to include a meta tag informing all robots not to index the page. This is critical, as you do not want robots such as googlebot or scooter (the spiders for Google and Altavista, respectively) seeing this stuff. Don’t worry, spam harvesters ignore these meta tags.

The script gives the page a name, usually randomly picked from a database or made up somehow, and fills it with a few dozen (at the most) email addresses. These email addresses are cleverly created to appear perfectly valid but actually are useless - they are just made up.

Links to other fake pages are created for the spam harvester to follow. Any robot (or human being, for that matter) that follow these links will find similar pages, full of desirable email addresses.

Depending upon the robot, it’s possible the spammer could gather tens of thousands of totally fake, unusable email addresses before his robot blows itself out of the water. It’s even better if the robot survives, as the spammer now wastes his time sending messages to nonexistent email addresses.

In the meantime, the harvester has been lured away from valid pages which may or may not contain email addresses.

My site, Internet Tips and Secrets, uses one of these poison pills. It is called wpoison and it really works well. If you want to see it, look at this page.

http://www.internet-tips.net/cgi-bin/guestlist.pl

If you want to get a copy for yourself, check out the wpoison page.

http://www.monkeys.com/wpoison/

This is just another weapon in the war against spam.

Is it effective?

I know from personal experience that it does trap spam robots, and it does seem to lure them away from real, useful email addresses.

Is it ethical?

I believe so, as long as you are careful to include the meta tags to inform “good” robots to leave the pages alone as well as some text to let your visitors know what’s going on.

It’s not as satisfying as spamcop.net, and there is no where near that pleasant glow of success upon learning that some scum spammer has had his ISP cancel his account, but the poison pill is useful nonetheless. My advice is to include it in your arsenal along with the other weapons and tools at your disposal.

To see a list of article available for reprint, you can send an email to: mailto:article-list@internet-tips.net?subject=send_article_list or visit http://internet-tips.net/requestarticles.htm

The Harvesters - Part 1 by Laurie Rogers Copyright 2001

Before you start reading this article, I need to clear something up. We’re not talking about the people that gather in the fall to pick all those luscious goodies out of gardens every year! I am sorry to disappoint you, I am sure that would have made for a pretty interesting topic, and they probably do not get the credit they deserve. But I have something a lot MORE exciting to talk about.

Today, we’re going to talk about all of the wonderful folks who LOVE to go around picking email addresses! You must know who I am talking about now? They all have nothing better to do, so they roam around the internet and hit every web site, ezine and newsletter, opt-in list, safe -list, discussion group or board, classified and FFA online, to gather as many email addresses as they possibly can!

You really have to give them credit, because harvesting email addresses takes talent to do, not to mention brains! I can’t for the life of me imagine how stressful a “business” like that must be. “Well today was a bad day, I ONLY got 17,369 addresses”. You have to feel sorry for him don’t cha? He must be having a hard time grasping the concept! He’d better start learning from the Pro’s,

Attention Harvesters!

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*CON ton’s of innocent people into buying thousands of email addresses from you EVERY day!

*Reap the rewards in the FINE art of SPAMMING

*Discover all the benefits of using FAKE email addresses

*Learn HOW to send email from someone elses ISP

*Techniques to cheat publishers out of FREE ads every day (you’ll NEVER pay for ads again!)

You’ll learn ALL this and MORE for ONLY $49.95

But WAIT … there’s more, act today and receive this amazing FREE bonus:

OVER 2,000 excuses to use IF you get caught! Including; “I’m new online and I do not know much about how this marketing stuff works.” AND the ever so popular .. “Can I add you to my mailing list and you can add me to yours?”

Order NOW cause we CAN’T offer this deal for much longer!

What on earth are these people thinking? Are they new? Are they just plain STUPID? I’m not even going to ask where their morals are. I think what really get’s us going is, how nice it is to have so much time on their hands, and so graciously grant themselves the right to HARVEST and then, SELL our email addresses! What do they do wake up and decide, “well I think I’ll start harvesting email addresses”?

What would make anyone stoop to that level? You can’t tell me they’re bored, because there are tons of things to do online. I personally keep asking for an extra 4 or 5 hours added to the day just so I can get MY work done on time! I guess I just don’t get it. (Oh but I do get their spam and TON’S of it, which is the reason WHY I need those extra 4 to 5 hours added to MY busy day!)