Imagine living in a fair-sized house, arriving home from work, and not being able to open your front door because you've got so much junk mail. When you finally do make your way in, you have to waste precious time sorting through all this rubbish to find the few things of value. And the frustrating thing is, you know the situation will worsen before it improves

This is what's happening on the Internet. E-mail account holders are being bombarded with junk mail, known as *spam. Junk mail comes in all shapes and sizes. It sometimes has images or files attached, some of it is pornographic, it is irrelevant and, at a guess, as a marketing tool it generates little response. Just as we bemoan the arrival of the double-glazing salesman at the front door, we express the same frustration towards spam: "If I wanted a cheap car loan, I'd be shopping for one."

But spam isn't just an annoyance. It's causing serious problems for individuals and businesses and hence the economy. The Government last week estimated that more than 40 per cent of email sent around the globe is junk mail, a massive increase on the mere six per cent a few years ago. This digital trash is cluttering - and in some instances blocking - in-boxes across the country and around the world.

In response, ministers announced late last week a plan to introduce strict new rules which will help curb spam. The initiative is not just UK-wide. Beginning in October a new European directive will make unsolicited emails illegal across member states. At home, the effort to curb spam will begin with new rules about how individual details which accompany an account can be used. The new rules should be in force by the end of October.

The EU directive is a good start. In an attempt to curb the growth in this alarming amount of useless information travelling across worldwide networks, the EU will rule that unsolicited e-mails can only be sent to an account for direct marketing purposes and - importantly - with their prior consent, or where there is an existing customer relationship.

Although most Internet firms and e-mail services have systems in place to block spam, serious spammers quickly work out how to breach the systems. Only recently here at The Northern Echo, some pornography sites were able to spider through our free community website service, Communigate, and send member sites porn mail, with the CommuniGate admin email address appearing in the sender's from field.

So new laws will have to be continually reviewed and updated. For starters, the new UK laws are set to rule that cookies (pieces of text generated by a web server and stored on a computer hard-drive which track your browsing habits) and other tracking devices must be clearly visible and must allow an individual to choose whether they want their online activities monitored.

The downside to these positive developments is that an incredible amount of spam is generated beyond the borders of the EU.

So what can you do to prevent spam? Avoid the urge to reply to the sender with the word Remove in the subject field. This is because many firms actually provide this option to ensure that they've reached a working email address. You won't necessarily be removed from any mailing lists. Simply delete these messages without responding.

Next, you can alter your email address when posting the newsgroups. Why? Most organisations that sell e-mail addresses use computer programs that scan Web pages and newsgroups to harvest e-mail addresses. If you display an e-mail address on a Web page or when posting to newsgroups, you can alter your e-mail address slightly. This will trick search programmes but will not confuse users. For example, if your e-mail address is pat@email.co.uk, change it to patNOJUNKMAIL@email.co.uk. Most users will know to remove NOJUNKMAIL from the address before using it, but search programmes will not.

Finally, treat your email address as you would your home or mobile phone number. You'd give those numbers to friends and family members, but not an unknown individual. If there is no reason to give your email address, don't. Also, consider setting up a second account for use on application forms, shop mailing lists, and surveys. These are the types of lists that are often sold to other companies and will potentially lead to lots more spam.

Finally, visit one of the Internet's best anti-spam sites, spam.abuse.net for more information and updates on the fight against spam.

*How the use of the word spam to describe unsolicited email:

The term spam comes from the Monty Python's Flying Circus spam skit. The sketch is set in a restaurant which serves all its food with lots of spam. The waitress repeats the word several times in describing how much spam is in the items. When she does this, a group of Vikings in the corner start a song: "Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, lovely spam! Wonderful spam!" They are then told to shut up!

Published: 16/05/2003