Controlling “Spam” (NAPSA)—Thetide of “spam” has continued to swell and increasingly flood e-mail inboxes for nearly a decade. Ever since April 1994, when lawyers Canter and Siegel posted their ad script to every newsgroup message board on Usenet, the number of spam e-mail messages has grown exponentially, and it is expected to double in the next three years. Research indicates consumerswill receive 206 billion junk e-mail messages by the year 2006—an average of 1,400 per person, compared with about 700 per person this year (source: Jupiter Media Metrix, 2002). Consumers have resorted to some interesting and unique methods in their desperate attempts to curtail “spam.” A bevy of antispam groups have sprung up on the Internet offering consumers “the best” and “the top 10 tips” to avoid “spam.” Several booksare available on the subject, too. Publications have featured the top 10 most loved, hated and creative “spams,” and writers continue to find ways to express their feelings about the “epidemic.” Some consumers have gone directly after spammers, with limited success. A Washington resident has filed at least 30 small-claims cases against spammers under a four-year-old statewide antispam law, and says he’s won 10 of those cases and collected approximately $2,000 from the defendants. However, most consumers do not have the time and energy to go to such extraordinary lengths and have turned to a much more convenient and effective way of dealing with the growing “spam” problem. Sun City, Ariz., resident Carolyn Turvin and her husband said that New technology can help you stem thetide of “spam.” after enduring “spam” e-mail for years, they finally found something that worked in the strong junk emailfilter included with their MSN 8 Internet software. “My husband andI just love our MSN junk e-mail filter,” said Turvin. “It’s simple and easy. It filters out all the e-mails we don’t want.” More important, the patented junk e-mail-filtering technology in MSN evolves overtime, learning to recognize e-mail messages and senders that need to be blocked, as well as taking great care not to accidentally filter those e-mail messages people want to receive. “Spam” has reached such proportions that it seems it would take a miracle to get rid of it. Like the Turvins, however, consumers can find relief by installing junk email filters such as those provided in the MSN 8 Internet software subscription. MSN currently blocks as many as 2.4 billion pieces of “spam”every day and significantly reduces the number of potential spammerson the network. More information on the smart junk e-mail filter with MSN is available at http://www.join.msn. com/.
