Spam is unsolicited junk email sent out over the Internet. Technically, it's Unsolicited Bulk Email, or UBE. Spam is sent without permission to thousands of recipients at once. Most spam is advertising for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, and adult content.
You can sign up for email updates and offers that may be of interest to you. Spam is the email you didn't sign up for. Occasionally a company will sell its emailing list that includes your name, to an email marketer. The email marketer then begins to spam you. Check the privacy policy before you give your email address to any company.
Another method spammers use to acquire your email address is through your browser. You may have entered your email address when you first installed your Web browser. When your browser opens a page on the Web, the site can query your browser for your email address.
How do I prevent spam in the future?
Review a Web site's privacy policy before deciding to provide information about yourself.
A Web site's policy outlines how the site might use your email address or other personal information that they collect. If a Web site doesn't have a privacy policy or if the policy doesn't explicitly guarantee that your personal information will not be shared, you should assume that any information you provide to that site could be sold to spammers or other direct marketers.
