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Spam Filters Silently Censoring Your Email

Internet blacklists invisible but powerful

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 29, 2008 10:54 AM CST
Email

(Newser) – With spam running rampant across the net, in-boxes have become heavily armed fortresses against the unsolicited hordes. Unfortunately, we’ve overdone it, writes James McGrath Morris in the Washington Post. Morris recently discovered that spam filters would gobble up the latest issue of his newsletter, the Biographer’s Craft, because of references to "young adult" books, "hot" authors, and “nasty” lawsuits.

Changing those words wouldn’t be the end of the world, but how many publications are unwittingly censored without even knowing it? How many people check their spam filters? Other correspondences can be blocked if your IP address lands on one of the inscrutable, ever-changing anti-spam blacklists. “What’s a person to do?” Morris asks. “It’s getting nasty out there, and I’m a little hot under the collar.”

There's little any of us can do to fight back against the spam filters, except censor ourselves.
There's little any of us can do to fight back against the spam filters, except censor ourselves.   (Shutterstock)
Spam filters can silently censor legitimate communication.
Spam filters can silently censor legitimate communication.   (Shutterstock)
Most people never realize their e-mails have been derailed; who really checks their spam folder?
Most people never realize their e-mails have been derailed; who really checks their spam folder?   (Shutterstock)
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