SPAM FAQ (Last updated 17th August 2007)
Q. Why is there a separate FAQ just for spam?
A. Spam is such a serious issue on the Internet that it warrants its own area. After bandwidth and salaries, dealing with spam is probably the next biggest cost to an ISP. It is important everyone understands how Exetel deals with spam and the spam policies that apply to every user.
Q. What should I do to stop spam?
A. The most common cause of spam is from virus's that hijack user PC's and use them to send masses of spam emails. Modern computers are powerful devices, and coupled with the bandwidth available through broadband, a lot of damage can be done in a short amount of time.
Like driving a car or owning a gun, the onus is on the user to know how to use the equipment properly and then use it responsibly. Exetel can't train you how to do that, but we will stop you by disabling your account if we detect spam activity from your connection.
As an absolute minimum, every PC connected to the Internet should have:
- an up to date virus scanner, updated daily, integrated to the email client, and activated all the time
- anti-spam filtering for the email client
- medium security or better for web browsers
- the built in firewall in XP SP2 activated
And never, ever open executable email attachments, no matter who the sender appears to be.
Q. So where do I get/learn/find out about the software you mention above?
A. http://www.google.com is arguably the best place to start
Q. Will Exetel stop spam being sent to my email accounts?
A.A. Exetel does offer a spam filtering service for the Exemail accounts that you may have, the cost for the email spam filtering per Exemail account that you would like to activate is currently $2 per email account per month. More information on how to activate this service can be found in your user facilities.
Q. What does Exetel do about spam being sent?
A. Exetel will:
- immediately block and disconnect any account detected sending spam
- When the customer tries to connect to the internet, they will be directed to the 'Spam Block' page, which has all the instructions needed to resolve the issue
- block any IP address known as a source of spam
- investigate any report of spam and apply the above actions if appropriate
This means that your account will be disconnected, immediately, if it is detected by Exetel or reported by a responsible third party to be a source of spam.
The issue is just too serious and too costly to do anything else. Although you may not think so at the time, we are in fact doing you a favour by taking this action by ensuring your liability for damages is minimised.
Q. Why wont Exetel call me to let me know they have blocked my account?
A. We devote all our resources to keeping the service as reliable and stable as we can for the most number of people. You, and over 40,000 other people who use the Exetel free email service benefit from this policy every day. Our first action is always to fix the problem in the most expeditious way. Unfortunately for the person who caused the problem, this means disconnection without notice.
Your service is not disconnected, but your access is restricted to the 'Spam Block' page which gives you information and links on how to fix the problem. Your account is blocked in this way for a minimum of three hours, which gives you a chance to resolve the problem before reconnection to the Internet. Since you are responsible for the operation of your computer and for the problems and possible costs the spam your computer has sent has caused, disconnection with the opportunity to fix the problem without further damage and liability to you really is the best thing we can do for you. When you think about it, it really is the most efficient way to handle the issue.
Q. Will Exetel compensate me if they block my circuit?
A. No.
Q. Will Exetel bill me for cost of recovery if the spam I sent was an accident?
A. The statement 'Honestly officer, I didn't know the gun was loaded' will not get you off a manslaughter charge. In almost every case, spam is not intentional. But never the less, it has happened and material damage has been done.
It used to be the case that after the first incident, Exetel would bill for the cost of recovery and time to deal with spam. However, the automated spam block process has negated much of the cost to Exetel.
Q. That sounds very excessive, what damage does spam do?
Effects of spam include:
- Exetel email servers blocked by other ISP's such as hotmail.com, yahoo etc stopping any Exetel customer sending email to those services.
- Denial of Service incidents on Exetel email servers, caused by the increased volumes of email, bounced email, spam blocked email and spam notice email. This causes very large queues and delays to everyone else using the service, as well as taking several hours or more for the system administrator to clear out the spam backlog from the queue
- High increased call and email load to Exetel support. A typical spam incident results in anything from ten to several hundred calls and emails asking what is wrong with email, why email cant be sent, why email has bounced etc. It adds around two to three hours to fourteen peoples day to deal with it.
Q. I was sending email to my own email list, but my account was blocked for spam, how come?
A. Exetel detects spam incidents mainly in two ways; bounced emails and abnormal activity on Exetel's email servers.
It is possible that a mass mail out to a legitimate email list can cause a lot of bounced email. Bounced email is noticed as spam candidates if there are more than fifty from the same email address or with the same subject. Exetel also look at the email content to see if it is likely to be spam, but, even so, in some cases legitimate email can be mistaken for spam, in which case Exetel will not bill you for the recovery cost.
Q. I do want to send out emails to large lists, how can I do that without risk of it being mistaken for spam?
If you are doing a lot of email mail outs, the best thing you can do is use something like ADR: http://www.mailutilities.com/adr/.
