E-mail forwarding not in jeopardy
On Sept. 13, the Indiana Daily Student published an editorial regarding e-mail ("Keep moving forward with e-mail"), with comments specifically about forwarding options from Webmail.
It's highly unlikely that University Information Technology Services will prohibit students from forwarding their IU e-mail accounts to external services such as Yahoo and AOL. Implying to readers that it is a probable response to spam is merely causing undue angst. There are many other options that we can explore before taking that dramatic step. IU e-mail users can help with the escalating spam problem.
UITS has a robust spam filtering service to which all IU e-mail users can subscribe. Everyone at IU can find instructions for subscribing at http://kb.iu.edu/data/ankf.html. Users who need assistance can contact the UITS Support Center at 855-6789 or e-mail ithelp@iu.edu. While no method can eliminate all incoming spam, those who have used this filter have experienced a dramatic drop in spam. Unfortunately, only 10 percent of e-mail users are subscribed to this spam filtering service. We must get that number much higher. Of course, a reduction in incoming spam reduces the amount of forwarded spam, and so reduces the amount of spam appearing to originate from IU and would help the blocklisting problem. There are also many other articles in the online Knowledge base about spam and what users can do to reduce the spam that they receive. Readers can go to http://kb.iu.edu and search on "spam."
We understand that many students don't like the Webmail interface. UITS analyzes all feedback and comments related to Webmail and to other aspects of the e-mail services UITS provides, and we strive to enhance those services based on that input. We certainly know that e-mail systems and other components of the IU information technology infrastructure are critical to the success of IU students, faculty and staff.
We have been developing plans for two e-mail study groups, one for student e-mail and one for faculty and staff e-mail. Once in place and active, I hope that input from these groups will help guide the direction of student e-mail services at IU during the next few years.
Mark S. Bruhn
Associate vice president for
telecommunications
