New computer program cracks down on junk e-mail

Anti-spam software installed at IU in March has decreased the amount of junk e-mail in the school's servers by 25 percent. \nThe decrease has already led to major improvements in the e-mail systems, Vice-President for Information Technology Brian Voss said.\nThe software, called Spamhaus, works by relying on a "black list" of notorious spammers. All e-mail now passes through Spamhaus' "black list," and recognized spammers are automatically blocked from the system. \nAccording to the Spamhaus Web site (www.spamhaus.org), spammers send junk mail in two different ways -- half of it directly and half of it through temporary accounts set up by third party service providers, like hotmail.com. Since Spamhaus uses a "black list," it can only block the direct spam. \nVoss said he expects IU will soon make available other ways for users to combat junk mail. Because of the concern for blocking legitimate mail and the First Amendment rights of spammers, Voss said IU has acted conservatively in selecting Spamhaus.\n"We decided to err on the side of caution," Voss said. "We are working on increasing the tools in our arsenal."\nThe list is updated every hour, based on information gathered from as far away as South Africa. It is a free service.\n"This certainly does not block all the spam out there," Voss said. "But it certainly made a dent in the amount of spam we are receiving."\nMost people agree Spamhaus is a big step forward.\nDuring the first three months of 2003, the volume of spam exploded. Of the over one billion e-mails sent and received each day, 60 percent of it was junk. \nThe spam overloaded campus servers, and in some cases delayed e-mail delivery for several days at a time.\nFor professors and students accustomed to e-mail communication, the delays forced homework and assignments to be rescheduled.\nMany anti-spam programs are now available for purchase. Business professor George Marakas installed the popular Spam Assassin on his computer, which eliminates spam by moving it out of the user's inbox and into a separate folder. \nHe said Spam Assassin is "low-maintenance" and moves very few legitimate e-mails. \nMarakas said more than half the e-mail he gets is junk. \nFor information about how to reduce junk mail, visit the IU knowledge base at \nwww.kb.indiana.edu