Spam (Unsolicited Commercial E-mail)
Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (UCE), commonly called Spam, is a rapidly growing problem for people responsible for maintaining mail servers. Not only do spammers flood E-mail accounts with numerous undesired messages, many spammers will try to use an unsecured server to send their E-mail messages. Your Virtual Private Server is designed to keep spammers from using your server to send their messages, as well as providing you with numerous options to help keep spam from filling up your E-mail accounts.
Tangled Up in Spam
What Is Spam?
While the legal definition of UCE varies from one place to another, spam.abuse.net provides a general description on their What Is Spam? page. The following is an excerpt from that page:
Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, or quasi-legal services. Spam costs the sender very little to send -- most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or the carriers rather than by the sender.
Recent laws enacted by some states have extended or limited that definition. For specific information about spam laws, see www.spamlaws.com.
The AlpineWeb AUP specifically bans sending spam:
Subscribers violate AlpineWeb policy and the service agreement when they, their customers,
affiliates, or subsidiaries engage in ... spamming. Sending unsolicited bulk and/or commercial messages
over the Internet ... is not only harmful because of its negative impact on consumer attitudes toward
AlpineWeb, but also because it can overload AlpineWeb's network and disrupt service to AlpineWeb
subscribers. Also, maintaining an open SMTP relay is prohibited. When a complaint is received, AlpineWeb
has the discretion to determine from all of the evidence whether the e-mail recipients were from
an "opt-in" e-mail list.
Preventing Spam Relays
Spammers frequently try to use another person's E-mail server to send their messages. Your FreeBSD Basic
Hosting Plan is designed to prevent your doman name from being used as a relay.
SMTP Authentication prevents anyone who doesn't have
a legitimate E-mail account from sending E-mail from your domain. We also provide
NMS Formmail, which prevents spammers
from using your Web-based forms to send spam.
More Information
For more information about spam and resources that can be used to fight it, see the following Web sites:
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