Spam!
March 2nd, 2006 | Published in Technology
Justin Taylor has posted a helpful and fairly comprehensive guide to stopping junkmail and telemarketing. Believe me, he speaks from experience. That man gets more email spam than anyone I know.
I get very few spam emails. The spam I do get I receive because one of my email addresses is my first name (“josh”) and it is a common address for a spammer to use at every domain. It is very easy not to receive spam. Here is how to do it from my experience: Never ever give out your info unless (1) you trust the company and (2) you know you need to receive something from them. This includes email, phone number, and address. Also, never put your email out on the internet (websites, forums, etc.) unencrypted. You’re asking for spam if you do that (and if ye ask, ye shall receive).
For instance, if you are at a store and the checkout girl asks for your phone number or email at checkout, do not give it to her. If she tells you her company needs one (they don’t), give them one that is obviously fake. That will get them to the next screen and they can continue your checkout. Another example: if you are trying to download a product and it asks for your email, do not give it to them. If it requires one, give an obviously fake one. Very rarely do they actually need your email to download the product, unless they are sending you the link by email (if that is the case, give your junkmail email address–you do have one, right?). And did you make sure that whatever you are trying to download isn’t spyware? If it is spyware, you and everyone in your address book might start receiving spam. Better to not download whatever silly program you are going to download unless you are positive you need it for something.