Managinging 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 Virtual Private Server is designed to prevent your server from
being used as a relay. POP
before SMTP authentication prevents anyone who doesn't have a legitimate
E-mail account on your Virtual Private Server from sending E-mail from your
server. We also provide NMS
Formmail, which prevents spammers from using your Web-based forms to send
spam.
Blocking Incoming Spam
We provide a number of powerful and configurable tools to help you protect E-mail
accounts on your Virtual Private Server from 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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