| Everyone at some point in there life has been | | | | email addresses) gather a lot of these emails |
| affected by the big "S" when it comes to the | | | | unethically by crawling the Internet and indexing |
| Internet. No I don't mean surfing or another four | | | | pages that email addresses appear and then do a |
| letter word that I can't use here. I am specifically | | | | technique called "scraping" to retrieve the email |
| talking about spam, and I do not mean that | | | | address off of the page and store it into their |
| canned processed meat you can find at your local | | | | own database. |
| grocery store or market. (What is that stuff | | | | These businesses then buy these lists, and spam |
| anyway?) | | | | is born. Here are some ways to protect yourself |
| I am talking about spam, the unsolicited email. | | | | if you are going to use email as a marketing |
| Many laws have been passed to curtail businesses | | | | campaign. First, whether you have a Blog, website |
| from "spamming" people, or sending email to | | | | or whatever, you should have an area where |
| them that they just didn't ask to receive. If you | | | | your visitors can enter their email address to |
| are reading this and you do send out unsolicited | | | | receive your newsletter. Always, always, always |
| emails to people, rest assured you are breaking | | | | have an "opt out" option on your newsletter. It |
| the law. | | | | goes a long way to the consumer if they know |
| According to a recent article in PC World | | | | they can stop receiving your email. Second, if you |
| magazine by Grant Gross a, "temporary | | | | are going to buy a list, which I don't recommend |
| restraining order was issued by Federal Judge | | | | you do, but if you do, make sure you purchase |
| Morton Denlow of the Northern District Court of | | | | from a reputable company, and ask them where |
| Illinois to Sill Neutraceuticals. The order calls for the | | | | and how they obtain those email addresses. |
| company to stop sending unsolicited e-mail for its | | | | If you are a consumer and like to sign up for the |
| products." Gross goes on to say, "It was issued | | | | occasional newsletter from companies who sell |
| following a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Federal Trade | | | | products or talk about their services, then I |
| Commission (FTC) against the company and its | | | | recommend that you sign up for a free email |
| owner Brain McDaid. In the lawsuit, FTC accuses | | | | account from sites like Yahoo or Google. Use that |
| Sill and McDaid of spare-marketing their Web sites | | | | email address to receive your newsletters. The |
| based on false claims on the efficacy of their | | | | newsletters won't clutter up your personal inbox |
| products." | | | | and your "real" email address gets far less |
| In defense of some companies that do send out | | | | exposure on the Internet. |
| large bulk emailing to market their products or | | | | Email programs such as Outlook and even the |
| services, they sometimes purchase large mailing | | | | free email accounts have options where you can |
| lists, from list servers or brokers and other | | | | setup spam and junk folders as well as create |
| companies that collect email addresses. They are | | | | block lists and so on. There are ways to combat |
| told that these emails were collected via opt-in | | | | receiving or at least keep it under control and of |
| lists. | | | | course if you own a business, not falling into the |
| An opt-in list means a person agreed to receive | | | | trap of sending it. Use these tips above and you |
| emails from companies and then "opted in" by | | | | are sure to not get aggravated by it. |
| entering their email address. What happens a lot | | | | Seriously what is that canned meat anyway? |
| of times are that these list brokers (who sell the | | | | |