Unwanted or unsolicited messages or communications typically received via e-mail

Spam email is unsolicited and unwanted junk email sent out in bulk to an indiscriminate recipient list. Typically, spam is sent for commercial purposes. It can be sent in massive volume by botnets, networks of infected computers.

Unlike junk paper mail, email spam costs the sender very little to send; almost all of the costs are paid by the recipient and carriers, because spammers don't pay for the internet bandwidth tied up in the delivery of the spam. Because they have no incentive to be efficient in their mass emailing, spammers usually don't put much effort into verifying email addresses; they use automatic programs called bots to collect addresses from the web and Usenet newsgroups, or buy them in bulk from other companies. Spammers also guess at addresses using name generation programs, and even send thousands of messages that bounce. In order to get a single response, spammers are willing to send out a thousand email messages or ten thousand; it makes very little difference to them.

Many spam emailers use tricks to get you to read their messages. For example, they use the "Subject:" line to entice you to open the message. Because of the tricks spammers use to send the email to you, your email address may not be visible in the "To:" line of the message, and you almost never see the email addresses of the other people they sent the message to. The worst thing about spam, though, is that the spammers use tricks that help disguise the origin of their messages.

One of the most common tricks is to relay messages through the email server of an innocent third party. This tactic doubles the damages: both the receiving system and the innocent relay system are flooded with spam. And for any mail that gets through, often the flood of complaints goes back to the innocent site that was made to look like the origin of the spam. Many spammers send their spam from a free account from a large ISP such as AOL, Yahoo!, or Hotmail, and then abandon the account and open a new one to use for the next assault. Another common trick is to forge the headers of messages, making it appear as though the message originated elsewhere. This is called spoofed email. There are some pieces of information in the full headers that the spammer cannot forge, but even after technical investigation into the source of the message, most often the resulting information leads to a dead end, usually an abandoned account or an innocent mail relay server.

Why you receive spam

Research by the Federal Trade Commission and by the Center for Democracy and Technology found that email addresses posted on websites or in newsgroups attract the most spam. A simple way to find out why you're getting so much spam is to type your email address into a search engine, such as Google. The number of times your address is found by the search may surprise you. Although your Indiana University personal home page isn't indexed by search engines, departmental pages and other official university websites are.

You might also receive spam if you fill out online forms or correspond with certain companies via email. Although most reputable sites have good privacy policies and won't share your information, it is up to you to decide what sites you trust not to sell your address to spammers.

IU does not and will not sell your information. Moreover, IU will not share your information except in cases when that sharing is consistent with the university's mission or is required by law. For instance, IU has a legal requirement to provide directory information, including email addresses, to the US military for all eligible recruits. This information is required under the terms of the Solomon Amendment, which requires male students to register with the Selective Service to be eligible for Title IV Federal Student Financial Aid.

Avoid spam

Unfortunately, much of the email that currently travels over the internet is spam (unsolicited commercial or bulk email), which can contain either legitimate or illegitimate content. It is all but inevitable that you will receive some such email, but you can take steps to decrease the amount you receive. IU also has mechanisms in place to reduce junk email.

See:

• Avoid receiving spam
• Spam and email virus prevention at IU

Report spam

If a sender disregards your explicit request not to be contacted, this can be considered harassment, and you should contact the designated authorities for your account. At IU, the University Information Security Office (UISO) handles such issues. If you feel that your safety or property is at risk, contact university law enforcement immediately.

Should you need to report an incident, it is important to collect and keep all the information you can with regard to the offending email messages (for example, times received, any replies you have made). It is also important to understand and use the full headers of the email message(s), since the "From:" line of a message can be forged or "spoofed".

See:

• Threatening or harassing email at IU
• If you receive spam

Mass mailings

Of course, it is important that you not become a part of the spam problem by sending mass messages or by passing along chain mail. See Email policies at IU for more information about your rights and responsibilities regarding email usage. Also, see:

• About chain mail
• Avoid getting in trouble with email Avoid receiving spam Be sure a website is genuine If you receive spam