SPAM DEFINITION

ICServices considers SPAM as the sending of messages, individually or en masse, to people who did not request it and or would not otherwise choose to receive it. Another term that is commonly used is Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail (UCE); however, ICServices considers any unsolicited, bothersome e-mail, whether sent by a business, an individual, or even a nonprofit, to be SPAM.

E-mail SPAM targets individual users with direct e-mail messages. E-mail SPAM lists are often created by scanning Usenet postings, purchasing mailing lists, or harvesting addresses from web sites.

Usenet SPAM is a single message sent to many Usenet newsgroups. Most of those types of postings are irrelevant to the groups subject.

Sometimes, SPAM can be characterized by forged headers, "from" addresses to which you cannot reply, and other attempts to disguise the identity of the sender, such as bouncing messages off innocent third party servers.

Listservers that send out mass mailings to people who requested to be on its distribution list, or "opt in" mailing lists, are NOT considered SPAM, because a) the person requested to be on it, b) the person can sign off at any time, and c) the sender is clearly identified in the header.