Web support.cebridge.net

Options and Limits:

• You may have up to 5 email addresses.
  
  
• You may use any program you choose to check and send your mesages while connected to the Cebrdge Network. Our SMTP (sending mail) servers only allow email to be sent when connected through a Cebridge Connections Internet Connection. The webmail system can be used to send email when you are not connected to the Cebridge network.
  
  
• You can store upto 25MB of messages on the server per email address.
  
  
• Passwords must be altleast 5 characters in length and not match the username for the address.
  
  
• We Limit the number of messages sent by each email address to 250 messages per day. Messages with more that 1 recipient are only considered to be 1 messag toward the daily limit.
  
  
• Attachments may not be over 10MB in size.
  
  
• There may not be over 100 recipients of your email messages. This is a total of the TO, CC, and BCC fields. If you have more contacts than 100 to send messages to, you will have to split them into smaller mailing lists.
  
  
• Outgoing messages must be sent thru Webmail when a user is not connected to the Cebridge Network. (ie vacation or office)
  

• You can add address to a "white" or "black" list at the Webmail Website
  A "white" list address will always be delived to the account.
  A "black" list adress is always blocked and will ot be delivered address.
  
  For assistance with setting up [SPAM] message rules for your email client, please visit the Support Website and click on the links on the right for your email program.
  
  

  What is Spam

  Spam is Unsolicited E-mail Advertisements and often annoying to E-mail users.
  The word "Spam" as applied to Email means Unsolicited Bulk Email ("UBE").
  Unsolicited means that the Recipient has not granted verifiable permission for the message to be sent. Bulk means that the message is sent as part of a larger collection of messages, all having substantively identical content. A message is Spam only if it is both Unsolicited and Bulk.
  
  The Technical Definition of "Spam": An electronic message is "spam" IF: (1) the recipient's personal identity and context are irrelevant because the message is equally applicable to many other potential recipients; AND (2) the recipient has not verifiably granted deliberate, explicit, and still-revocable permission for it to be sent; AND (3) the transmission and reception of the message appears to the recipient to give a disproportionate benefit to the sender.
  
  

  Can you filter this stuff?

  Some service providers have attempted to address the spam problem by blocking mail from other providers who are known to distribute spam. Although this method is somewhat effective, it eliminates only a fraction of spam. For example, many network abusers will set up an account with a reputable provider such as America Online or other easy to use systems. No one blocks these providers because there is a great deal of legitimate mail coming from those systems.
  
  We have also configured our mail servers to automatically notify our mail administrators whenever certain "patterns" are recognized in any large number of incoming mail messages. For example, a large number of messages with substantially the same Subject header, or of the same length, or numerous groups of messages all sent to the same number of recipients... all are flagged as potentially "spam" and are either accepted or rejected based on their content. By allowing the server to watch for such patterns, we hope to be able to stop a good deal of unwanted e-mail from reaching our customers.
  
  

  Can you block all messages not addressed to me?

  Conceivably, Cebridge Connections Internet Services could prevent any mail without a legitimate "To" header from reaching our customers at all. We have actually debated this idea seriously for quite some time. However, the downside of this plan is that there is a potential for much legitimate mail (i.e., mailing list messages addressed to "mailing list recipients" rather than a specific swbell.net address) being blocked. Furthermore, to program our mail servers to scan through every incoming mail message and verify that its "To" header matches that of its intended recipient would significantly degrade the overall performance of those servers.
  
  Therefore, while we have a mail software upgrade planned for the near future, the unfortunate cost of having to wait is that much illegitimate mail will reach our customers for the time being. Our top priority, though, is that none of our customers legitimate mail be bounced simply because some automated process we were running mistook it for spam.
  
  

  Should I "reply to remove"?

  As you may have noticed with much of the spam messages you receive, the "From", "Reply-To" and "To" headers point to addresses that are obviously fake. In many cases, trying to respond to the address in the "From" header results in your message being "bounced" back to you as undeliverable.
  
  In other cases, you may discover that you are able to reply to an unwanted message. In fact, the message may actually give you "removal instructions" or invite you to "reply to be removed" from the spammer's mailing list. However, replying to spam, or even following the sender's instructions for "removal," may actually increase the amount of spam you get in the long run. By letting the spammer know that you've received the message, even though you are expressing disapproval at receiving it, you are confirming for them that your e-mail address is valid and that you read messages sent to that address. Unfortunately, many spammers do track which addresses write them back (regardless of the content of the reply) and use this information to update their mailing lists. Some even then turn around and sell these lists to other spammers.
  
  In short, avoid attempting to reply to or contact the spammer by e-mail.
  
  Cebridge Connections Internet Services also recommends reporting the receipt of spam to the Internet provider at which it originates. Your best bet in determining the true source of an e-mail message is to look at its "Received" headers (you may have to set your e-mail client to "Show all headers" to be able to see them). As stated above, the spammer will have often forged the "From" and "Reply-To" headers, making them largely unreliable in determining the true source of the message.
  
  

  Can I filter this stuff from my inbox?

  Depending on your e-mail program, you should also be able to control which messages are visible in your Inbox through the use of "filters." The most recent version of Netscape Communicator offers filtering capability, as do Eudora, Pegasus and Microsoft Outlook. Unfortunately, Netscape Navigator 3.0 and earlier versions do not have filtering features, so you must upgrade to Netscape Communicator if you want to use Netscape Mail and take advantage of filtering.
  
  We recommend you create a filtering rule in your e-mail program which deletes (or sends to the "Trash") any e-mail message not specifically addressed to you in the "To" or "Cc" headers.
  
  Unfortunately, Cebridge Connections Internet Services does not provide technical support for setting up filters; however, there are many online resources available to assist you.
  
  

  ISN'T THIS ILLEGAL?

  I got spam that says it "complies with federal requirements".
  
  Currently there is no federal legislation either supporting or prohibiting the sending of unsolicited e-mail messages. However, you may have noticed that some spam messages include the following language (or something similar):
  
  This message complies with the proposed United States Federal requirements for commercial e-mail. For additional information see: http://www.senate.g.
  Current information on the status, text, and summary of Title 3 of S. 1618 and H.R. 3888, its companion bill, can be found by using Thomas, the legislative information system run by the Library of Congress.
  
  Or:
  
  This message complies with the proposed United States Federal requirements for commercial e-mail bill, Section 301. Per Section 301, Paragraph (a)(2)(C) of S.1618, further transmissions to you by the sender of this e-mail may be stopped at no cost to you by sending a reply to this e-mail address with the word "remove" in the subject line. Although this all sounds rather intimidating, it is also misleading in that it strongly implies that the spammer has acted within federal law in sending you their message. The bill to which these spammers refer (commonly called the "Murkowski bill") would have legalized the sending of unsolicited commercial e-mail provided certain requirements were met. However, although this bill passed the Senate, it died in conference committee and never passed the House. Therefore, it never became law.
  
  

  7 Tips to Help You Reduce or Stop Spam

  1. Use a separate email address when you post messages to any public forum, such as newsgroups and mailing lists. Never use your personal email address for this purpose -- or you'll be flooded with spam. Then, you can quickly go through the email in this account to see what's spam and what isn't. And your main personal email address won't be as clogged with spam.
     For example, AOL users can set up a special user name for free, and use that for their postings. Then, they can just discontinue that account if they start to get too much spam.
     
     
  2. Consider acquiring multiple email addresses for different purposes. This helps you to identify different sources and senders, and lets you filter more effectively.
     For instance, you may have one for personal use only by friends, family or colleagues that is never used to request information or to subscribe to newsletters, discussion lists, etc.
     Another might be used just for sales inquiries or orders, or for making online purchases. This can be arranged through your ISP, web host or through any number of online email service providers.
     Even free mail services like Yahoo! Mail and GMail can be used for this purpose.
     
     
  3. You can subscribe to services online that provide you with disposable addresses that can be deleted if they begin to attract spam messages. You can create a unique address for each email newsletter or forum you subscribe to. Then, when an email address begins getting spam, you 'throw it away' and start using another email address.
     This works because the disposable email addresses actually forward to a real email address of yours. The software lets you track which addresses are getting spam, and you can just resubscribe using a new, spam-free address.
     
     
  4. Remove your email address from your website. If you list or link to your email address, you can expect to be spammed.
     Address-harvesting robots will spider your site and extract them. So remove them wherever possible and use web-based forms instead. This will drastically cut down the amount of spam you receive if you have a website.
     
     
  5. NEVER buy anything from a company that spams. Don't visit their sites or ask for more information. (If you respond to their spams, you're encouraging them to continue spamming -- they only need a tiny fraction of responses to be profitable.)
     There's another reason not to buy anything from a company that spams: over 95% of spam offers are scams! In fact, not responding to spam is the single most effective way to not get scammed on the Internet.
     
     
  6. Filter your email. Using filters is key to managing your email effectively. It may take a short time to figure out how to do this, but it's definitely worthwhile. For more anti-spam filtering information, visit: http://email.about.com/cs/spamfiltering/ For more on negative spam filtering, visit: http://email.about.com/library/howto/htnegativespamfilter.htm
     
     
     Tip: Make sure that any software or system you select gives YOU control of which email you get (and doesn't automatically erase messages).
     
     On a related note, safeguard your newsletter and discussion list subscriptions. If you, your ISP or web host use spam filters or white lists, be sure to let them know that you want to receive messages from any newsletters or discussion lists that you subscribe to. Do it as soon as you sign up... otherwise, it's very easy not to notice that you're not receiving them.
     
     While these 7 tips may not actually stop spam, they will certainly help you drastically reduce the amount of spam you get.
     
     Other Excellent Stop Spam Resources CAUCE: Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email The online anti-spam organization. Their list of anti-spam resources is probably the best around. http://www.cauce.org/about/resources.shtml
     
     

     Legal

     18 US states now have laws regulating spam to one extent or another. The best resource for legal and practical information about these laws is The SpamCon Foundation Law Center.

     There are also steps you can take to assist the US government with enforcing existing laws that are broken by spammers.

     • Spam that is fraudulent - offering products that don't work or don't exist, pyramid schemes and so on - can be sent to the US Federal Trade Commission at uce@ftc.gov.
     • Spam that promotes stocks can be sent to the US Securities and Exchange Commission at enforcement@sec.gov.
     • Spam containing or advertising child pornography is illegal in most of the world under existing law. In the US, you can report suspected criminal activity to the Federal Bureau of Investigation via this form. You can also file child-pornography-specific reports with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children here.

       In Europe, it seems you can report it to Swedish Save the Children; this group is funded by the EU, and British Save the Children refers to it when asked how child pornography is best reported. You can also try inhope, an organization of internet hotline services.

     • Unfortunately, while sending spam containing regular pornography to your children is probably illegal, no agency is charged with investigating this particular area.
     • Chain letters that ask for money, whether for "reports" or just straight up, are illegal in the US whether they are in postal mail or e-mail. Report these frauds to your local US Postmaster.
     • You may see e-mail coming from Nigeria or another African country, sent by someone who wants to use your bank account to transfer 20 million dollars. This is called a '419' scam and people have been killed over it. Do not answer. If you are an American, go here for more information. If you are British, see the London Metropolitan Police's alert.
     
     
     
     We are using several methods to try to eliminate "Spam" from your inbox, with pretty good results. We are using a few static lists and a few RBL's or Real-Time Black Lists to try to keep up with the spammers. We are continuing to research better methods to reduce the amout of "Spam" delivered to our customers. If you have any suggestions or comments, please let us know on the Contact Form