The Federal Trade Commission has these suggestions at its Web site (www. ftc. gov / spam ) to cut down on the amount of spam you get: “Try not to display your email address in public. That includes newsgroup postings, chat rooms, Web sites or in an online service’s membership directory. You may want to opt out of member directories for your online services; spammers may use them to harvest addresses.” “Check the privacy policy when you submit your address to a Web site. See if it allows the company to sell your address. You may want to opt out of this provision, if possible, or not submit your address at all to Web sites that won’t protect it.” Consider using one e-mail address for personal messages and another for newsgroups and chat rooms. “You also might consider using a disposable e-mail address service that creates a separate e-mail address that forwards to your permanent account. If one of the disposable addresses begins to receive spam, you can shut it off without affecting your permanent address.” Use a unique e-mail address. “Spammers use ‘dictionary attacks’ to sort through possible name combinations at large [Internet service providers ] or e-mail services, hoping to find a valid address. Thus, a common name such as jdoe may get more spam than a more unique name like jd 51 x 02 oe.” And if you get a particularly annoying bit of spam ? Forward it to the FTC at spam@uce. gov.
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