Office of Information Services

SPAM

SPAM is unsolicited, unwanted, junk and sometimes offensive e-mail sent out in bulk across the internet. SPAM hurts us all by cluttering up our E-mail InBoxes and the Internet.

How to prevent SPAM:

Limit access to your e-mail address. Don't give your e-mail address out freely to newsgroups, listservs and web sites unless you want to receive e-mail from them. Follow these instructions to filter out unwanted junk mail.

Do not reply to the SPAM message because:

• A large percentage of spam mail is sent using bogus "From" or "Reply-to" addresses.
• Your reply could be going to an innocent party.
• Your response could be going to a list and generate even more spam. The message could be a probe to confirm your email address. This is done in a lot of spam messages that include a specific address to send requests to be removed from the list.

For more information on SPAM visit the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE).

SPAM Laws

• Maryland - Signed by the Governor in May 2002
• State Laws
• Federal Laws