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About Spam and How to Fight It
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About Spam and How to Fight It

What is ‘Spam’ and how does it affect me?

Depending on who you ask, ‘Spam’ could be defined in dozens of ways. However, the average consumer defines Spam as “unwanted email.” This is the definition we’ve adopted.

Spam is annoying, can lower productivity, threaten the security of your computer and even deliver objectionable or offensive content to your email inbox.

What are my options in dealing with Spam? Which is the best?

While most of the world is simply trying to ignore spam with the “delete” key, others have recognized that spam is becoming unmanageable and grows in quantity the longer you use an email address. Many fight spam with:

• Blocking – Your email program or ISP (Internet Service Provider) may allow you to Block specific senders from delivering any email to you. This allows you to block regular senders of spam. Unfortunately, since spammers constantly change the addresses they send from this method only stops the least sophisticated spammers and hardly any spam.
• Filters – Your ISP, email provider or private software company can sometimes provide a filtering technology that attempts to identify spam (by keywords) before it arrives in your inbox and diverts that message into a “Junk Mail” or “Spam” folder, where it is later deleted. The problem with this method is that ‘good’ email is often identified as spam and deleted without your knowledge. These are called “false positives” and are the biggest problem with what would otherwise be the most effective way to combat spam.
• Opting Out (Unsubscribing) – Many commercial emails provide a button or link that you can click to Opt-Out of the sender’s mailing list so you don’t get any messages from that sender in the future. The US government has recently identified this as the best way for its citizens to determine which email they choose to receive and which they choose not to receive. The biggest drawback to this method is that (as of December 2003) some commercial emails either do not have opt-out mechanisms or do not have ones that work. Recent legislation (the CAN-SPAM Act) seeks to ensure that ALL commercial email in the future have working unsubscribe functions. Based on this development, Opting Out will be the best long-term solution to spam.

Which methods does LashBack use to fight against Spam?

LashBack incorporates nearly all of the modern methods in spam-fighting. It gives the option to Block specific senders, allows you to filter future messages based on the information that LashBack members supply, and will allow you to opt-out of spam with the click of a button.

If ‘opting-out’ of spam is the best long-term solution to spam, why do you also bother to block and filter spam?

We at LashBack know that Opting Out will ultimately result in the least Spam received by its members, but also recognize that Blocking and Filtering can bring a more immediate result to spam-elimination and provide some personal customization that many email users desire. By using all three popular methods (and more), we can ensure that our customers receive the least spam possible.

What about the government and the CAN-SPAM Act? Won’t that take care of the Spam problem? Do I really need your software?

The CAN-SPAM Act, which was just recently made law in the United States protects citizens from the tide of spam by requiring commercial emails to have a working “Unsubscribe” button or link in it. Failure to comply would result in criminal charges. A conviction would mean fines and/or prison time. This is a wonderful development in the fight against spam, but it has its problems.

While the details of the enforcement of such a law are being rolled out, you will continue to get spam today. And once the law has truly taken effect, you will still have to MANUALLY opt out – meaning you will have to spend more time clicking on links in spam and filling out forms just to unsubscribe. For most of us, this means that we’ll have to spend more time than ever on spam, just to take advantage of the new law.

LashBack AUTOMATICALLY unsubscribes you from messages identified as spam. With one-button, you block the sender, filter future messages from that sender and automatically find their unsubscribe form to fill it out.

Doesn’t ‘Opting-Out’ just let the spammers know my email address is valid and ultimately get me more Spam?

Some spammers make fake unsubscribe buttons/links and use clicks to determine which email addresses are valid – so they can continue to spam them.

LashBack addresses this possibility with a 'Trust System' which identifies email advertisers as Trusted (someone known to honor Unsubscribe requests), Untrusted (someone who is known to abuse the requests to send more spam), or Unknown.

Advertisers begin as labeled 'Unknown,' during which time your Opt-out requests are recorded by the LashBack servers but are not sent. Instead, LashBack sends out a 'probe' (an opt-out request by the server) to test to determine if the process is safe. If it's safe, the advertiser becomes Trusted and your request is processed. If it is unsafe (they send back spam), they become Untrusted and your request is not sent (you simply block and filter them, while LashBack gathers evidence of their illegal activity). If LashBack cannot determine either way (say, the link is broken), your opt-out request is held while additional testing is conducted.

This Safe Unsubscribe feature is patent-pending.

How LashBack Works

How does LashBack stop spam?

LashBack's approach to fighting spam is a multi-tiered attack. When you highlight a message and click on the red LashBack lightning bolt button on your email client's toolbar, several things all happen at once:

• The message is removed from your inbox and is placed in a custom "Spam" folder.
• The sender of that message is added to your "Blocked" List. Future messages from that sender are prevented from reaching your inbox.
• LashBack gets a copy of the spam message from you, records it, scans it and then (based on the website they're advertising), filters all messages that advertise the same product or service.
• If the advertiser's Unsubscribe mechanism is considered to be Trusted, you are automatically unsubscribed from that spammer's email list.
• The unique and simple combination of these actions eliminates the spam you have today and prevents you from getting spam tomorrow (and on).

If one button does all the work, what do the other three buttons do?

The other three buttons are:

• Add To SafeList - Highlight a message and click this button to add a relative, friend, coworker or other trusted source to a list of addresses which guarantees messages from those email addresses will always be delivered successfully to you.
• Configure - Change your personal options, review your blocked list, initiate a scan for spam in your inbox and much more.
• Reports - Launches our Spam Control program which can let you run reports to determine what messages are being filtered, who's sending them, which ones are honoring your opt-out requests and more.

Does LashBack do anything to discourage spammers from sending me spam in the first place?

In addition to blocking, filtering and unsubscribing you from spam, LashBack also uses the information it gathers on the illegal activities of spammers to work with anti-spam organizations worldwide to find and punish spammers for their criminal activities. In this way, LashBack Community members (subscribers) are all contributing to the end of spam as we know it. This is precisely how you are able to 'lash back' against spam.

Setup, Cost and Upgrades

How hard is it to set LashBack up? How hard is it to use?

LashBack is designed with the Beginner in mind. We figure spam is annoying enough without it becoming MORE complicated to get rid of it. We want using LashBack to be as easy as using the delete key, only a LOT more powerful in the fight against spam.

Installation and setup takes less than five minutes. A quick interactive tutorial is included to go over all of the most commonly-used functions and an online manual covers everything else you might need to know.

How much does LashBack cost to use?

The LashBack toolbar costs absolutely nothing to use. Updates to the service, upgrades to the product and technical support are all included for free.

Does LashBack work with Macintosh or Unix computers?

No, we do not currently support those operating systems. We do, however, have plans to offer these options in the future.

I don’t use Outlook or Outlook Express for my email, but I want to try LashBack. Do you have plans to release other editions of the software to cover other email clients like Eudora, MSN, AOL or Hotmail?

Other versions are continually in the works! If you would like to be notified when new versions become available, you can join our mailing list by contacting us at updates@lashback.com with "new versions" as the subject line.

Technical Questions

I have more than one email address. Will LashBack work with all of those email addresses at once, or…?

LashBack protects all email addresses used by one computer (that are configured for use with email clients we support). A separate copy of LashBack is required for additional computers, but not for additional email addresses.

How much of my computer’s resources will LashBack be using? Will it affect the other things I already do on my computer?

While the amount of processing power devoted to LashBack is customizable, most users will default to the same amount of processing power and internet bandwidth usage as would be required to view a simple web page. In other words, you are highly unlikely to notice any diminishment in processing power or internet speed.

Will Lashback ever block or filter ‘good’ email?

While it is unlikely, it is possible that while you begin to use the Filtering offered by LashBack, some email from trusted sources may diverted incorrectly into the Spam folder. If this happens, simply highlight the message in your spam folder and click on “Add to SafeList” so that any message from that email address will always be allowed to go into your inbox.

It is highly recommended that you add all friends, family and other trusted email addresses to your SafeList as soon as you install LashBack to ensure the best possible filtering results.

How can I add someone to my SafeList if I don't already have an email of theirs to highlight?

On the LashBack toolbar, click on “Configure” and choose the “Spam Control" button (alternately, you can double-click the Lashback icon in your system tray). Click on the green SafeList button to access the list of trusted addresses. Then, click on “Add” and type in the email address to be added. Click OK and you’re done!