about spam
What is Spam Email?
Spam is unsolicited email on the Internet. From the sender's point of view it is a form of bulk email to a list of subscribers. To the receiver, it usually seems like junk email, and can be very annoying, especially as it can fill up your mailbox with unwanted e-mails.
Isn't Spam illegal?
As of the 11th of April, 2003 all commercial emails will be governed by the Spam Act 2003 (Ch) that prohibits the sending of commercial emails. Each email you receive is required to include an unsubscribe option, as well as information regarding the person who authorised the message and their contact details. This applies to all emails where the message originates in, or is received in Australia.
If you receive a commercially based unsolicited email with an offer to supply or advertise goods or services, suppliers, business or investment opportunities, you can contact the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) with your concerns.
To combat the growing spam problem iiNet has introduced Spam Tagging. In general it's not considered good netiquette to send spam.
How do people sending Spam Email get my Email address?
People that send spam acquire email addresses by various means, such as:
- By establishing contact with webpage administrators and arranging for email addresses which are submitted on the site to be forwarded to them.
- By running a dictionary of possible usernames against a chosen domain to get the username@domain email address.
- Your email address can also be lifted from news group and message board posts and various chat programs.
- Another possibility is that your email address could have been in use by someone else before you, who was not careful with where they let it be listed.
- Gathering your email address through software registration or competition entries for opt-in mailing lists.
At iiNet we have a strict Privacy Policy that governs our use of your information. Under our Privacy Policy, we do not on-sell or disclose your email address or other details without your express permission or legal compulsion such as a Court order. If you are concerned about the privacy of your account information with iiNet, please read our Privacy Policy.
What can I do to minimize the amount of spam e-mail I receive?
If you are receiving spam email there are a few steps you can take to avoid attracting similar email in the future. Unfortunately none of these methods are foolproof, but can often be worth a try regardless:
- Setup spam tagging with iiNet's Spam Tagging tool, which marks the e-mails most likely to be spam, making it easy for you to determine, at a glance, which e-mail's are spam and which are not.
- Be careful about who you give your email address to, and what you are agreeing to when filling in forms online.
- If you wish to Opt out of mail from iiNet, such as our monthly newsletter and general product information, visit the Toolbox.
If you are receiving unsolicited email that is not from an opt-in mailing list, the first step is to determine where the email came from, and hence the appropriate action to take. To do this you need to examine the headers of an email:
- How Spam Email is sent
- Understanding email headers
- Retrieving email headers
- Who to contact about spam
Click here to view information on the iiSpam Tagging tool.
Please note: Email Forwarding and Spam Tagging cannot be used simultaneously.
