What is Spam?
Spam is unsolicited email, not unwanted email. If you have signed up for an email list and receive and email that is not spam. If you unsubscribe to that list and continue to receive emails then that becomes spam. While spam is annoying it is generally not dangerous to your order your PC. In January of 2004 the federal Can Spam law took effect with broad reaching requirements and penalties. Tip: if you see a company name and address of the bottom of an email, that generally means you can use the remove link and it will be honored as they are following the Can Spam law. If you do not see an address and only a remove link, then it is not a good idea to use that link as that would indicate a live email address to the spammers.

Spamming companies have various methods of obtaining your e-mail address. More than 90% of spam is delivered to e-mail addresses taken from public websites. Anytime you enter your e-mail address to gain access to a website, it is vulnerable to spam. Similarly, whenever an e-mail address is used to participate in a newsgroup or web-based discussion group, spammers can easily obtain it.
Unauthorized sales of your e-mail address by companies from whom you recently purchased products or services also play a large part in the spam epidemic. Although the majority of websites adhere to an "opt out" policy that allows you to prevent distribution of your e-mail address, not all websites respect consumers’ privacy.
Some spammers also obtain e-mail addresses through trial and error. Spammers use computer programs to randomly generate e-mail addresses using a variety of letter and number combinations. Eventually, a given combination will produce live addresses, and those e-mail users will receive spam.

There are several steps that you as a consumer can take to stop spam. One of the most effective methods is to use “spam blocking” software provided by many Internet service providers. In many instances, consumers can obtain these tools at no additional cost.
Other alternatives include writing the postmaster affiliated with the domain owner (such as aol.com or yahoo.com) to object to the receipt of spam. Typically, the postmaster’s address can be found at the bottom of the e-mail, or you may try: postmaster@domain.com, admin@domain.com, or webmaster@domain.com. In many cases, the postmaster may not be aware of the spam being sent from its server.
Setting up multiple free e-mail accounts is also an alternative. Many providers will allow you to set up a web-based e-mail address from which you can send and receive e-mail without having to use a dedicated e-mail application such as Outlook or Eudora. This will allow you to use one e-mail account as your “junk e-mail” account.

Congress, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are taking a variety of steps to limit spam.
On January 1, 2004, the “Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003” (CAN-SPAM Act) took effect. This new law set out three requirements that commercial e-mail senders must follow. The first provision, requiring labeling, stipulates that every unsolicited e-mail must be clearly identified as a solicitation or advertisement. The second, offering an opt-out option, provides that commercial e-mail senders must allow an easy and legitimate way for recipients to opt out of the sender’s future e-mails. Lastly, the return address provision requires that unsolicited e-mails contain a legitimate return e-mail address, as well as the sender’s postal address.
The CAN-SPAM Act requires the FTC to issue regulations “defining the relevant criteria to facilitate the determination of the primary purpose of an electronic mail message,” and the FTC recently sought public comment on this issue. The FTC’s efforts will help determine which unsolicited commercial e-mail messages can be regulated. The FTC also sought comment on the possible establishment of a National “Do Not E-mail” registry, which would function like the National “Do Not Call” list.