Another View: One man's battle against porn spam

Connect with state & local government leaders
 

Connecting state and local government leaders

Every day I get the most disgusting e-mail. If a colleague posted this crud on a cubicle wall, the harassment suits would fly. Yet, thousands of federal employees are subjected to a daily onslaught of filth or the promise of filth. I have complained to my management, getting sympathy and renditions of their similar complaints. But nothing is done.

Every day I get the most disgusting e-mail. If a colleague posted this crud on a cubicle wall, the harassment suits would fly. Yet, thousands of federal employees are subjected to a daily onslaught of filth or the promise of filth. I have complained to my management, getting sympathy and renditions of their similar complaints. But nothing is done.What can one do about pornographic spam? Of course, delete the messages. Opening the cleverly disguised ones confirms the validity of your address. HTML messages set cookies and report to the spammer, 'Here is another good address.'Microsoft Outlook's preview function triggers these alerts and cookies, confirming an address even if you delete without opening it. Typically, the unsubscribe links are bogus, used to confirm the validity of the e-mail address.Like millions of others, I get the same trash at my personal e-mail account. I have removed it from my Web pages in an effort to thwart robots harvesting addresses to sell to smut peddlers. But the Internet never forgets an address, so my only remaining option might be to close the account.That's how the daily deluge of disgust offsets the benefits of keeping in touch with family, friends and volunteers with the worthy causes I support. I have come to dread logging on to my e-mail account.I installed antispam software on my home PC. But the spammers change addresses or create fake addresses faster than I can declare them enemies. So half the trash gets through, while the anti-spam software occasionally snags valid e-mail. This software allows me to bounce messages in the hope that the spammer will drop my address from their lists. But it is more expensive to prune the lists than to keep sending spam to invalid addresses. They therefore ignore bounced messages.But at work I am not permitted to install software. This is done for understandable, if frustrating, security reasons. The managers of firewalls and e-mail gateways are reluctant to delete spam for fear that valid queries will be thrown away. That possibility is one reason agencies are setting up contact management applications to handle customer queries. The mail-to URLs on Web pages are easy targets for the automated tools spammers employ to harvest new addresses.The other day a female colleague received a virus-laden amorous advance'with the spoofed return address of my e-mail account. The attached love note was actually a virus which, fortunately, the department's defenses deleted. But the ridiculous smash note remained.Every unsolicited message steals dollars from the taxpayers. Agency managers must recognize how they sap productivity.I applaud the Federal Trade Commission's suit against egregious spammers. In one case, FTC accused Brian D. Westby of Ballwin, Mo., of sending millions of messages to drive business to more than 20 adult Web sites.FTC says Westby earned more than $1 million in commissions for his efforts. The deluge will persist as long as spam is nearly free to generate and its return on investment so lucrative. Meanwhile, thousands of feds and other workers angrily pound the delete key in what is becoming a hostile work environment.

Walt Houser



























Walter Houser is a federal webmaster.
X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.