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The war on spam

Like the intriguing odour of the canned "delicacy" it is named after, Internet spam doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon.

Like the intriguing odour of the canned "delicacy" it is named after, Internet spam doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon.

Depending on your Internet provider and Internet activities, the spam situation is either holding steady or getting worse.

After dipping down to a manageable 10 spams a day in my Hotmail account, I’m up to around 40 unwanted, unsolicited messages – enough to completely fill my Inbox in about four days if left unchecked, and prevent the messages I want to receive from getting through.

People wonder why I still keep my Hotmail address if things have gotten this bad, and I don’t have a real answer for that. Right now it’s part sheer laziness – I don’t really want to take the time to transfer all my messages and addresses to a new account, something that would take all of 15 minutes – and part science experiment; my overflowing Inbox provides me with a unique insight and understanding of the Spam problem, as well as an idea of how well the Internet companies are doing in the battle against this scourge.

You would think that Microsoft would have a vested interest in stopping spam, which has become such an epidemic that U.S. Senators are warning that it is in danger of shutting down the Internet by effectively clogging all the networks, servers and transmission lines. Microsoft also produces a lot of the software on which spam is created, sent and received, and has its customers’ concerns to think about. In addition, through its formidable software and hardware, Microsoft provides a significant part of the backbone that allowed the Web to grow and thrive.

Still, if you want to get their advanced anti-spam protection services, you have to subscribe to MSN 8 Internet software at a cost of $125 a year – significantly more than the zero dollars a year I currently pay for my Hotmail account.

Of course, MSN 8 comes with a lot more than anti-spam software, like parental controls, virus protection, digital photo processing, a calendar, an e-mail manager, extra e-mail storage and capability, and tools for synchronizing your computer with your phone, PDA, and laptop.

Still, it’s a sizeable increase from zero, and I’m still waiting for a better deal.

Relief may finally be on the way with a new bill in the U.S. that would give the Federal Trade Commission more power to shut down companies for making misleading claims in spam e-mails or telemarketing calls. If the FTC discovers that companies or individuals are making false or unproven claims in their solicitations, and about two-thirds of them do, then the FTC can take legal action against them.

That will about do it for a large number of spam e-mails that claim they can re-grow hair, increase penis length through herbal treatments, shed pounds effortlessly, and issue Harvard diplomas.

It does little to curb the spam e-mails sent by "legitimate" companies offering deals on printer toner cartridges and three-day free trial memberships to porno sites, as long as the senders deliver exactly what they claim.

Another potential source of relief, again in the U.S., is a plan to create a "do not spam" registry similar to one that is available for protection against telemarketers.

The registry is being designed to protect children, as research has found that about 20 per cent of all Internet spam is related to pornography. The spam bill being proposed would include criminal penalties, with possible prison time for spammers who repeatedly break the rules.

Canada will likely benefit from the new spam laws being proposed as most of the messages originate in the U.S. – although there is a good chance that many spam companies will relocate to the Caribbean and other locations where they can operate with immunity.

Still, it’s a step in the right direction, and lays the foundation for a system of international laws that could stamp out spam for good.

Until that day, and it’s likely years away, stay in the loop by visiting these Web sites:

Fight Spam on the Internet – http://spam.abuse.net

This non-profit site has been fighting spam since 1996, and helps people to address their spam problems and get involved in grass roots activities. It also collects spam-related stories from around the Web to give us the big picture.

The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE) – www.cauce.org

CAUCE is an activist anti-spam group with affiliates in Europe, the U.S. and Canada that challenges government laws and loopholes that allow spam, while supporting strong anti-spam initiatives.

IE5 the last gasp for Mac users

Microsoft and Apple have had a weird relationship over the years. In a very real way, the two companies are natural born enemies, like sharks and dolphins, and are in direct competition with one another at so many levels.

Still, the desire to sell products and steal customers has overridden this rivalry in the past. Microsoft is mainly a software merchant, after all is said and done, and Apple is a huge market that is still expanding.

That’s why the computer world was taken aback by a recent announcement that Microsoft would not be offering an upgraded version of Internet Explorer IE6 for Mac computers. The line will end with IE5.1, with a few updates still to come.

Microsoft said it made better sense for Mac users to switch to Apple’s Safari Web browser, which was designed to be used with the Mac OSX operating system. Because OSX and Safari are proprietary systems, Microsoft said that Apple was in a better position to develop this kind of software.

They felt short of accusing Apple of anti-competitive business practices, a charge that has been levelled at Microsoft in the past in a number of anti-trust suits.

Microsoft will continue to market its Office products and other software towards Mac users.