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Electronic Highways
Scram to Spam and Scams!
Who among us has been spared unsolicited email? Sometimes it seems just another part of the daily routine: as we log into our email account and systematically delete all the pyramid schemes, bogus money-making opportunities, chain letters, health or diet merchandise offers, vacation package promotions, currency-exchange projects and other spam—day in and day out. Previous "Electronic Highways," columns such as "Debunking Net Hoaxes" (April 12, 2001) and "9-11 Rumors and Hoaxes" (Nov. 15, 2001) showed how rumors and urban legends proliferate over email; scammers utilize misinformation, persuasion and aggressive marketing tactics for profit and unfortunately, too many have swindled their way to success.
Don't despair—according to the free online newsletter Internet ScamBusters http://www.scambusters.org/, there are numerous ways to fight back. The newsletter offers articles on reducing spam, protecting yourself from identity theft, credit-card fraud and other common scam tactics. The case studies alone are worthy of attention—they point out how widespread a phenomenon email fraud is and how devious the tactics of the purveyors. Another set of basic tips on dealing with spam is offered by Randy Cassingham in his online Getting Rid of "Spam"…and Other E-mail Pests http://www.spamprimer.com.
Reporting scammers is one recommended way to fight back. If you or anyone you know has been victimized by an Internet scam, you could contact Internet Fraud Complaint Center http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp. Co-coordinated by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, the IFCC receives all complaints and engages law enforcement agencies to investigate the perpetrators of online scams and other frauds. The site features an online complaint form. Other agencies that handle these kinds of cases are linked from the Linkscan site http://www.elsop.com/wrc/complain.htm.
Lobbying for legislation on the state and federal level starts with grassroots organizations like The SpamCon Foundation http://www.spamcon.org and The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE) http://www.cauce.org). Both offer news and resources for all aspiring spam-fighting activists. Proposed and enacted federal, state and foreign laws to control spam and misleading email can be viewed in full text or in summary form at the appropriately-named Spam Laws http://www.spamlaws.com. Sadly, the list of states that already have passed anti-spam legislation does not yet include New York.
Search the UB communication databases http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/cgi-test/title.cgi?sortby=subject&subject=Communication or informatics databases http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/cgi-test/title.cgi?sortby=subject&subject=Informatics for news and scholarly articles covering spam and scam. Among the databases listed you will find InfoTrac OneFile http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/eai.html , offering news and analysis of current developments.
If you are tired of your daily spam-deleting routine and would like to automatically filter out unsolicited email, UB's Computing and Information Technology (CIT) offers options to weed out unwanted mail containing specified subject words, attachments, non-Western character sets or potential viruses. Click on http://www.cit.buffalo.edu/mail/filters.html and follow the step-by-step instructions.
No doubt a lot of spammers and scammers believe an updated version of P.T. Barnum's old saying: "There's a sucker logged on every minute." Don't allow yourself to become one of them!
—Nina Cascio and Rick McRae, University Libraries