September 2002

Content
. . . SPAM: What is It and How to Avoid It
. . . Fudging E-mail Addresses
. . . Copyright — You and Your Students
. . . Use NSave for Backups
. . . Proper Battery Disposal

SPAM: What is It and How to Avoid It

Reprinted by permission of Colorado State University Cooperative Extension. From the June 2002 issue of C&T News, Fort Collins, CO. Copyright 2002 by Colorado State University Cooperative Extension. All rights reserved.

What is "SPAM"? By computer terms, SPAM is excessive and unwanted postings of messages via e-mail, also known as junk mail. Oftentimes, it is commercial in nature, but by no means does this classification completely define SPAM.

Why do people SPAM? E-mail is the most widely-used tool on the Internet. It is easy and inexpensive. All a spammer needs is an e-mail address or e-mail account acquired from the Web and newsgroups. Some less-established companies, businesses, or other spammers will sometimes sell your e-mail addresses as well.

One of the easiest ways to avoid SPAM is to ignore it. When you receive junk mail, simply delete it and empty it from the trash. Some junk mail gives the user an alternative to opt out by replying to the message with the appropriate terms. Don't do it unless you know it's a valid mailing list. Any response or acknowledgment tells the spammer your e-mail account is active, and you may suddenly find yourself receiving more spam.

Protect your e-mail address and be careful where you publish it on the Web. Sometimes this is difficult because businesses, companies, and organizations require e-mail addresses to provide you with the product or service. In this case, use a non personal or e-mail address such as Hotmail, Yahoo, or any of the other free e-mail services on the Web. When filling out forms, look for those additional check boxes to opt out of future mailings. Often this is located in the company's privacy statement page, but not always. Look at the privacy statements to see how the recipient of your e-mail address intends to use it. Be cautious when posting your e-mail address to newsgroups. If you need to post to a newsgroup, use a non personal or non business e-mail address.

Sometimes you can fight back by sending a formal complaint to the ISP (Internet Service Provider) that hosts the spammer's e-mail account. For example, if you receive spam from Joe1234@cabbageiscool.com, then go to the Web site www.cabbageiscool.com and look for a "contact us" page. Often ISPs have an e-mail account called "abuse" for such purposes. In the example above, send a copy of the spam to abuse@cabbageiscool.com. Even though it says it is coming from Joe1234@cabbageiscool.com, it may be coming from somewhere else. Most reputable ISPs will investigate spammers and if they are found to be abusing the company's member agreement, they will usually be shutdown. Be aware that spam doesn't always come from the name that appears on the "From:" field of the offending e-mail — often this is spoofed. The header of the e-mail message was manipulated to change the appearance of where it actually came from. There are ways to determine the original sender, however, due to the complexity of this process I will not go into detail in this article.

Junk mail can sometimes be filtered by installing e-mail filters. Most e-mail browsers such as Netscape, Pegasus, and Outlook have this tool available. A filter simply sorts mail based on the standards you define in the filter options.

~ Mark Herndon, Computer Applications Specialist

Editor's Note: You can easily create filters in Lotus Notes or Eudora to sort incoming messages into folders, even put them directly in the Trash folder. In Lotus Notes, use Rules. While in your Mail database, click on the Rules folder and press the F1 key for Help instructions. In Eudora, use Filters. Choose Tools > Filters from the menu, and press the F1 key for Help (or, select Help > Topics and enter "filtering messages" in the text box under the Index tab).

Fudging E-mail Addresses

If you don't intend to accept any e-mail communications from a website, an Element K Journals tip <www.elementkjournals.com/tips/> from May 2001 had a suggestion for "fudging your e-mail address." The tip stated that the "domain names ‘example.com,' ‘example.org' and ‘example.net' have been reserved by the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) for experimentation and testing. You can take advantage of these test domain names by making up a username and tacking it onto any of these three test domain names. Simply use the format username@example.com... and replace the word ‘username' with any word at all. This way you remain anonymous and your personal information remains a secret while enabling you to enjoy perusing sites with neither fear nor guilt."

Copyright — You and Your Students

There has been a lot in the press lately about copyright issues: plagiarism by high school students and university faculty, illegal copying of music and video files, deep linking that bypasses a commercial website's homepage, and more. With the beginning of a new school year it is time again to make sure we, the students, and kids in 4-H are properly following the copyright law and fair use provisions.

The Web may seem like a wide-open source of photos, textual information, page design ideas, and more; however, everything is considered to be copyrighted unless stated otherwise. Also, when you link to another site, do not hide the address. This can be a problem with framed sites like the Blackboard system.

Here are four excellent articles for you and your students to use to learn more about copyright issues.

"Can I copy that Web page?"
Lisa Jasa. CIT Information, October/November 2000.

Lisa's article explains the basics of copyright and fair use issues and how copyrighting works within the University of Nebraska system. She also explains that most federal government documents are not copyrighted and how to obtain permission to use copyrighted materials. The online article includes a list of resources to learn more about the issues and to track current happenings.

Education World's "The Educator's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use."
www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr280.shtml

This guide is five-part series on "copyright, fair use, and new technologies" for educators to use themselves and with students.
   Part 1: Copyrights and Copying Wrongs
   Part 2: Is Fair Use a License to Steal?
   Part 3: Copyright Law and New Technologies
   Part 4: Applying Fair Use to New Technologies
   Part 5: District Liability and Teaching Responsibility

"When Image is Everything: Finding and Using Graphics from the Web"
Nicholas G. Tomaiuolo. Searcher: The Magazine for Database Professionals, January 2002.
www.infotoday.com/searcher/

This is a great primer on digital art that:

• explains how to find art with search engines,
• explains copyright and how creators of images can protect their work,
• provides information for image acquisition,
• explains digital images file formats,
• has a large list of image sources with brief explanation of usage policy, and more.

"Getting Permission to Publish: Ten Tips for Webmasters." Nolo.com
www.nolo.com (Click on "Internet Law" in the left column, then click on "Rules for Webmasters" to go to the tips article.)

   May 2005 - These article are no longer available. Site contains other Copyright and Fair Use information.

A succinct article explaining such things as "Assume It's Protected;" "Watch Your Links, Frames, and Inlining;" "Don't Count on Fair Use: It's Not Always Fair;" and more.

~ Pam Peters

Use NSave for Backups

Do you have a backup program in place to backup your important data files? If your computer had a hard drive crash or virus would you be able to recover your data? If the answer to those questions is NO then NSave is the answer.

Information Services offers a backup/recovery service called NSave for a small monthly fee. The software is installed on the desktop and the backup/recoveries are done over a network connection. No external devices, tapes, etc... are needed. For more information go to the web address <nsave.unl.edu> or contact me at 472-6843.

~ Linda Holsclaw, NSave Support Specialist
Information Services

Proper Battery Disposal

I have been getting some questions lately on proper battery disposal so I want to share with everyone that the UNL Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) office has a "Safe Operating Procedure" sheet on this question — and other issues, such as office ergonomics.

To get to the "Battery Disposal" sheet, go to <http://ehs.unl.edu/SOP/index.cfm>. Scroll down to the "Waste Management" and then click on "Battery Disposal." The document is a PDF file so it will open in the Adobe Acrobat Reader program.

If you have questions on this or other health and safety issues, please see the EHS website or contact the EHS office at (402) 472-4925.

~ Cathy Fox

CIT Information is published by Communications and Information Technology - Computing section, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Newsletter articles may be copied and distributed for nonprofit, educational purposes only and the source must be acknowledged. Direct all correspondence to the editor, Pamela K. Peters (E-mail: pkpeters@unlnotes.unl.edu; Phone: 402/472-5630; FAX: 402/472-5639).

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is an affirmative action - equal opportunity employer.