Do You Want to Subscribe to the ECCCLC Email Network?

Chapter 9

Information on Chain Mail

Here is an excerpt:

How can you tell whether an email warning is genuine or not? Here are some tell-tale signs:

- They usually bombard you with a lot of techno-jargon.

- The warning is supposedly from such and such an authority (fictitious ones).

- The warning usually contains no specific date, but only a vague date, like "yesterday".

- For virus hoaxes, they usually play on your fear by exaggerating what a virus can do to your PC.

- As for chain letters, they tend to sound so pathetic that you feel you have to do something to help.

- And almost certainly they will plead with you to pass the message to all your friends and relatives.

A) Consequences of Mass Mailing

The consequences of mass forwarding such pranks cannot be underestimated. It wastes precious Internet resources (e.g. email storage, bandwidth for Internet traffic), and reduces office productivity when people have to spend time reading and responding to these messages.

B) The Best Course of Action

So the next time you come across such messages is to do nothing! Do not pass it on. Forward the mail to the organization's computing department and let them investigate the matter. If it is a genuine case, then they can do something about it. As for chain letters of cries for help, there are better ways of dealing with the situation than passing on the message to all you know. Read the side stories (on the left of this article) for more information on this matter.

Ambrose, Benedict, and Kelvin
June, 2003