Brief Overview of
Spam
Spamming is the
practice of sending unsolicited information to
either a single user or in a mass scale via email.
As anyone with a computer will testify, spam has
gotten completely out of control. In fact, recent
statistics show that over the last ten years, spam
has grown to represent almost 80% of total email
traffic with estimated impact to the global economy
of approximately US $25 billion dollars per year.
Not surprisingly,
this has caused receivers like Internet Service
Providers (ISPs) to take drastic measures to not
only protect their users, but also the networks
themselves. This includes, but is not limited to
anti-virus, anti-spam, and storage. This puts an
enormous amount of strain on the ISP on top of the
already crowded email networks.
Elite’s Role in
Combating Spam
Elite email platform
is 100% permission-based and does not engage in
spamming practices. We take the following steps to
ensure that our staff and associates do not engage
in such activities.
Any associate
database submitted must provide a date/time stamp
for when each of the subscribers registered to
receive information from Elite.
If the staff and
associates cannot show such proof, then Elite will
not allow the database to be added to the system. We
reserve the right to review any creative intended
for a mailing and if found to contain potentially
offensive or "spammy" material, will deny mailing
from being sent.
Automatically remove any user
that either clicks on the Unsub tab on our footer or
those who send an email to our
abuse@elitebilingual.com
address.
Any staff and
associates who violate the steps listed above will
be suspended from sending emails with Elite's email
accounts.
Elite is also compliant with
the CAN-SPAM laws (http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/108s877.html) and enforces such practices
for all of its associates. The company also works
closely with the major anti-spam organizations such
as Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS), SpamCop,
Spamhaus, and Spam Prevention Early Warning System
(SPEWS ensure that all of its associates are not in
violation of spamming policies.
As part of the
platform, Elite has made it very easy for users to
unsubscribe to a list, which is included in the
footer of every mail sent via the system. The
company also maintains an
abuse@elitebilingual.com, which is
monitored 24/7 to quickly remove any users from the
system upon their request.
Blacklists and ISP
Relations
Elite maintains an
active relationship with the major Blacklist
organizations as well the top ISPs to prevent
spammer from using Elite’s email platform. Any
notices received from such organizations regarding
complaints of spam will be dealt with immediately..
If we find that any list contains spam trap seed
address (hidden emails maintained by blacklist
organizations to catch spammers) that account will
be immediately suspended.
Process for Handling
Spam Complaints
As stated above,
Elite takes spam very seriously and constantly
monitors our associates to ensure spam is not being
sent via our system. The following are the steps
taken if a particular email account is being flagged
as a potential spammer.
Spam complaint
received -- Based on the severity (such as a spam
trap) as well as volume of complaints, we will
assess the situation and notify the associate as to
the violations.
Account is
temporarily suspended to give us time to properly
investigate the claims.
If the block is due
to numerous spam complaints, the associate will have
to wait until the threshold goes down before sending
more mailings.
If the block is due
to a spam trap, Elite will attempt to discover the
seed address(es) but this may not be possible. The
associate will not be able to send mailings until
the database is cleared of possible traps or may
have to resubmit a new database.
After the
investigation, Elite will determine whether or not
it can continue to do business with the associate.
How to Prevent Being
Labeled as a Spammer
Don’t use a purchased
list. These may contain spam trap seed addresses.
Have a minimal number of generic addresses (such as
info@, support@, sales@) These are typically
harvested addresses and will alert Elite that your
list may have been bought.
Double opt-in
subscribers. Yes, you may take a hit in your total
number of subscribers but you will also have a
better, more targeted list of people who want to
hear from you.
Respond quickly to
anyone who emails you directly to be removed. Elite
provides you with an easy way to remove any user
that is requesting not to receive mailings. Not
removing such users quickly can result in you being
reported as a spammer.
