December 2018
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This is a bi-monthly compilation of questions that our clients have asked us recently!
I am increasingly besieged by spam e-mail! Is there any way to stop the madness? Your situation is far from unique and if there were any surefire cure to these annoyances, someone would be very, very rich. But there is no surefire cure, only small things you can do to at least bring the noise level down a bit. Spam e-mail, that is to say unsolicited and unwanted commercial messages hawking an amazing diverse range of products and services is supposed to be illegal unless you have an existing relationship with the vendor. Fortunately, most legitimate vendors and those you truly have an existing relationship with by virtue of having made some kind of transaction initiated by you, are generally pretty good about giving you a way to unsubscribe from their communications. It's usually in the form of a "click here to unsubscribe" link at the bottom of the message (note there is one on the bottom of THIS message!). Click it, follow the instructions presented and you should end that sender's connection to you. Unfortunately, these days there is a brisk business in the selling of e-mail addresses collected in any number of less-than-legitimate ways to vendors who are paid solely on the number of messages they send out on behalf of third parties (not whether those messages result in any form of e-commerce for the third party). Sometimes these messages have what appears to be an unsubscribe link but either it doesn't work at all or simply confirms to the distributor that the message was received and the address can be used for more spamming. Those messages should simply be ignored and/or deleted without opening, as the act of opening can also confirm a message's receipt. Most internet mail services have some kind of automatic spam-blocking measures available or even apply them automatically. There are also software spam-blockers that intercede at the client end. Unfortunately neither technique approaches being foolproof. Terri and I are always available to help you analyze your spam issues and do what we can to help reduce them. What about the flood of unsolicited telephone calls from people I don't know? Unsolicited telephone calls, whether placed by an automated "robo-caller" or by a real person, tend to be even more intrusive than spam e-mail. The creation of a national "Do Not Call" directory for landlines barely dented the problem back in the 1990s and it was never intended to cover cell phones. Even legislation barring harassing or threatening calls has not been of much value. As a result, there is no effective front-end method of intercepting such calls before they are placed. And the state-of-the-art in telephone solicitation has rendered the technique of putting callers into a "blocked number" list pretty much ineffective, as solicitors routinely change the apparently originating telephone number frequently. That same technology is how solicitors dupe victims into answering their calls -- making the caller appear familiar by using a local area code and even a local number prefix. As in the case of e-mail spam, there is software available that offers some ability to shut out unwanted calls to your cell phone. The software's efficacy is marginal at best in most cases. Your best option is often your personal directory of friends, family and businesses you want to hear from. If a caller isn't recognized on-screen, either ignore or decline the call. The role of cellular and landline vendors of telephone service in dealing with the expanding problem of unwanted communications still begs more legislative consideration. Loopholes and exemptions in existing laws aimed at the issue need to be revisited. Terri and I can help you examine your particular situation and try to advise on a best course of action. What do you want to know more about? There are still many other topics we could talk about here or in a personal consultation. We welcome your comments and questions for future issues of the OCW Insider. You also can give one of us a call or shoot an e-mail and we'll set up an appointment to meet with you! As the holidays approach, Terri and I would like to extend our best wishes to you and your family. We look forward to continuing our services to you in the new year! |
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phone: 864.710.7009 email: dave@oneclickwonders.com |
phone: 864.633.6707 email: terri@oneclickwonders.com |