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The Internet is becoming more clogged with junk mail every day. Much of
it is obviously junk -- bulk advertising. If you want to do what you can
to free yourself of that kind of junk email, please
see
spam.getnetwise.org
But there is also a lot of mail that plays on your fears, greed,
or good-heartedness to try to get you to pass it on to as
many people as you can. It is manipulative mail, created by
people who want to fool you into helping clutter the Internet with useless
material and wasting other people's time and effort. When you pass
on such mail, you are not providing a service -- you are simply playing
into their hands.
Most mail that issues a warning or a make-money-fast invitation, and at
the same time urges you to send it on to as many people as possible, is
fraudulent -- an e-mail hoax. Other mail, while not
false on the surface, is couched misleadingly in terms which make it seem true
for everyone, and raises fears in everyone, when in fact it is only true
for a small number of people.
Strike a blow for clearing the Internet of such trash. Consider sending a
polite note back to the person who sent you the note, with the suggested
text mentioned above, or some variant of it to suit your taste.
Delete the mail and don't pass it on. Such messages are Chain
mail, the sending of which is prohibited on UM accounts, interpreted
under items #4 in both the University's Acceptable Use Policy and WAM Guidelines.
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