Almost each and every one of us at some point or the other has received unwanted email advertising, offering or selling some product service or website. We receive emails of all sorts of colors, fonts, images, decorations and intentions. Most of us simply delete such emails. Some of us unfortunately get trapped in the lure of such devious emails.
Let us discuss some issues regarding SPAM and ways to avoid falling in traps, blocking spam, and getting back at spammers.

We receive mails claiming we won some contest that we never participated in. We receive emails claiming to be hot tips on some stock that we can make a killer profit on. We receive emails that offer to greatly enhance our wealth or our physical endowment and experience. We receive emails claiming to make us richer with a dubious to say the least Diploma or Degree.
Can all such emails be termed as SPAM? The answer to that question is not exactly what we want to hear; "Not all these emails can be termed as SPAM!" "Why not?", I hear everyone rushing to ask. "We lose time and money downloading, sorting, reading and deleting these junk emails, so shouldn't these mails be classified as SPAM? Shouldn't we be able to sue these spammers till they're broke, and then some more?"

I sincerely wish all these emails could be termed as SPAM. Unfortunately they may not be SPAM for a variety of reasons. Let's discuss these 'reasons', how to avoid spam, how to tackle spam, and how to fight back.

What is SPAM

Emails with the same / similar content that were sent to a large number of users, and not requested by you is termed as Unsolicited Bulk Email. (UBE)
Emails with commercials / advertisements sent to a number of users, and not requested by you is termed as Unsolicited Commercial Email. (UCE)

Though both these forms of email are generally considered spam,
Both UBE and UCE are NOT a form of spam mails if any of the following conditions are met:

1. The mail was sent by a company / site where you are currenly subscribed to receive mails similar to the one you received.
2. The mail was sent by a company / site which is partnered with a site where you subscribed to receive mails from partners.
3. The mail was sent in response / follow-up to a form you filled up on some site / on paper / other media.
4. The laws of your country do not consider the email in question to be spam.

The last reason does seem extremely odd, but unfortunately for us, the organizations making a profit from sending spam have much more bargaining power (read money and favors used as bribes and plain old lobbying) than the average internet user. So, according to some of these laws, as long as the message does not contain any false subjects / claims, does not attempt to fake the sender information, includes a proper reply address and some other minor details, the message is not spam.

If you are like me and do not appreciate your country's lawmakers selling you out for money from the spammers, (so called advertisers), wat can you do about it?

Other than lobby for stricter spam laws that protect you, there some things you can do to keep yourself safe.

Read Part 2 of this article.