UITS to combat spam

University Information Technology Services will soon introduce two new programs to combat the flood of junk e-mail clogging students' inboxes. UITS recently wrote a new processing code that will speed up Webmail for now. Later this semester, they will debut a new pilot program that will allow students to filter out the amount of junk e-mail, or spam, they receive. The pilot program will be introduced on a trial basis to a limited number of students this semester and if successful, will be offered to all IU students next fall. \nIn the past two weeks, many students have lodged complaints with UITS about delays with Webmail and messaging services. Some students complained that they received e-mails two to three days after they were sent, leading to late class announcements and assignments. \nJournalism law professor Amy Reynolds was forced to push back a class assignment after her students failed to receive an important e-mail she sent out. The e-mail contained important instructions for completing the assignment. \n"My understanding is that people eventually got the message, and some students didn't receive it until three days later," Reynolds said. "That's way too late considering the nature of the assignment."\nRick Jackson, manager of IU Webmail and other messaging services, attributes the delays to the large volume of junk e-mail that passes through IU's servers. \n"The amount of mail we're receiving now is just off the charts," Jackson said.\nIU students receive between 2 to 3 million inbound e-mail messages everyday, much of it junk, or spam e-mail. \n"The amount of spam mail, unsolicited e-mails from vendors, has caused the mail cues to slow down, which delays users from receiving their messages," Jackson said. \nSpam has proven to be more of a problem at the beginning of the week, on Mondays especially. The type of messaging system, be it Webmail, Shakespeare, or Exchange, does not affect the problem, however. \nAlong with the high volume of junk mail, the messaging delays can also be attributed to the poorly formed headers of many of the messages, Jackson said. Much of the spam mail is sent from international organizations, and IU's messaging systems have problems reading the foreign character sets. \nSenior Alexis Jordan said she is tired of the junk e-mail. \n"I get at least 10 junk e-mails a day, and I would love it if IU could do something about that," she said. \nJackson is confident that IU students' problems with their e-mail systems will be alleviated soon. \n"I can say at this point, with the new program to speed up the mail cues, we've fixed the problem," Jackson said. \nJackson admits, however, that the volume of inbound e-mails will probably only continue to increase, which might cause delays in the future.\n"My expectation is that eventually even this new system won't be fast enough, and we'll have to write yet another code," he said. \nRather than confining itself to a constant cycle of updates, however, UITS is focusing its efforts on a pioneer project through which IU students can adopt an elective computer program that will filter the amount of junk e-mail sent to them. The new program will be introduced on a trial basis later this semester to a limited number of students. If the program is successful, UITS will give all IU students the chance to adopt the program next fall. \nUniversity Legal Council will not allow UITS to block junk e-mail on its own because such restrictions would violate students' First Amendment rights, Jackson said. Because of this, the pioneer program must be offered to students on an elective basis. \n"We need to do it in a way that allows each student to choose whether or not they wish to filter their mail," Jackson said. "It's not a decision that anyone in UITS or the university can make for the individual." \nIn the meantime, however, before the new pilot program is accessible to all students, Jackson advises students to be patient. \n"UITS is constantly working to improve the messaging systems, and delays should become less common"