The Globe and Mail: In the battle against spam, they stand on guard for thee

The Globe and Mail: In the battle against spam, they stand on guard for thee: "

While consumers and small businesses don't have the luxury of corporate IT departments dedicated to reducing the influx of spam, there are software and services that can help.

For example, some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are trying to can spam before it even reaches the recipient. As one of the world's largest ISPs, America Online Inc.'s 28 million members receive about three billion e-mail messages a day. More than 80 per cent of the messages are rejected as spam before they get to the user, said Alex Leslie, vice-president of technology for AOL Canada Inc. But even with a team of 100 AOL staff members combatting spam daily, junk e-mail still makes it through.

E-mail that is not rejected outright as spam is run through additional AOL filtering software on the user's desktop. Suspect messages land in spam folders that subscribers can view to ensure there are no false-positives - legitimate e-mail tagged as spam. They can report spam with the click of a button; reported spam has dropped 75 per cent as AOL has improved filtering, Mr. Leslie said.

Not all ISPs filter spam as effectively. Many small and medium-sized enterprises receive e-mail through Web hosting companies using less sophisticated filters - or none at all. Their users spend hours each week cleaning up the mess."