| The three of us began our tech careers at a small local Internet service provider, where every dollar was sacred and wasting one was the equivalent of sacrilege. What we discovered then is still true today: Any way you cut it, spam wastes money. Organizations and individuals devote more time, money, and strategy to thwarting spam than to any other online problem. Even the Congress is talking about it. As of this writing, they have passed the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (or the CAN-SPAM Act, if you can believe it), and we know that those guys have more important things to do than monitor your e-mail box.
This book was written to help you thwart the assault of unwanted commercial e-mail whether you run a sizable organization’s e-mail system or you’re sitting at home banging your head on your keyboard, trying to sift a real e-mail message from the chaff. Within this book, you will find a thorough discussion of spam- fighting tools and technologies:
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We cover more than 30 individual anti-spam tools across three major platforms, both client- and server-based, open source and proprietary.
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We talk about the technologies on which the e-mail system is based and why that system is conducive to spam.
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We cover the four major schools of thought for fighting spam, the specific tools that demonstrate those methods, and some future spam-killing strategies coming down from on high.
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We give advice on how you should start looking at the spam problem in your organization and how to begin formulating a strategy.
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We talk about the spammers themselves: their motivation, the technology, and the methods used for filling your e-mail box with junk.
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And finally, we provide hundreds of references for further reading, a spam glossary, and a CD packed with anti-spam tools.
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As a special bonus, we give you the (widely agreed upon) first spam message ever sent on the Internet.
What we cannot teach you is how to completely eradicate spam from your life. Even with our tricked-out SpamAssassin setup, we only catch about 99 percent of the spam messages destined for our mail server. And we like to think we know what we’re doing. The scary fact is that spam is here to stay. It has permeated the e-mail system, crossed over to web pop-ups and spyware, and even infects mobile phones and text pagers. Congress can’t stem the tide; your Internet service provider has a marginal effect. So, it’s up to you to wage your own war on spam. |
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The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants, Mushrooms, Fruits, and Nuts: Finding, Identifying, and Cooking (Guide to Series)
Edible wild plants, mushrooms, fruits, and nuts grow along roadsides, amid country fields, and in urban parks. All manner of leafy greens, mushrooms, and herbs that command hefty prices at the market are bountiful outdoors and free for the taking. But to enjoy them,... | | Old-Growth Forests: Function, Fate and Value (Ecological Studies)Many terms often used to describe old-growth forests imply that these forests are less vigorous, less productive and less stable than younger forests. But research in the last two decades has yielded results that challenge the view of old-growth forests being in decline. Given the importance of forests in battling climate change and the fact... | | |
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