The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 was supposed to eliminate spam email. This federal spam law that became effective January 1, 2004, was passed by Congress to get rid of junk email.
So why didn't the law eliminate spam and why is it so difficult to stop it? Still today, more than 40% of all e-mail is still unsolicited sent to you by spammers even though that law passed.
The truth is email spammers make so much money they can afford to outsmart The Federal Trade Commission with sophisticated technology.
It is almost impossible to enforce this law although a few do get caught and pay the huge price.
Spam is not likely to go away anytime soon, and it's difficult to eliminate spam email altogether. But there are some simple ways to significantly reduce spam from getting into your inbox.
Here are Four Fighting Spam Tips:
Protect Your Email Address
Don't display your email address in newsgroup postings, chat rooms or in an online service's membership directory. Sometimes email spammers use these sources to harvest email addresses.
Create Two Email Addresses
Another good tip is create two email addresses. Create one for personal messages and the other for public use, such as in newsgroups or chat rooms.
You can create an account with a disposable email address service. Have those emails forwarded to your permanent email address. If the disposable address begins to get spam, just shut if off and get another one.
Create A Unique Email Address
Create a unique email address - continued below ...