These tips were collected from a study performed by the Center for Democracy & Technology.

Disguise email addresses posted in a public electronic place.

CDT received the most spam just by placing an email address at the bottom of a webpage. Spammers "harvest" these addresses with computer programs that collect and process addresses and add them to spam mailing lists. If a user must post his/her email address in a public place, it is useful to disguise the address through simple means such as replacing "example@domain.com" with "example at domain dot com" or other variations such as the HTML numeric equivalent, in which "example@domain.com" could be written "example@d omain.com."

Read carefully when filling out online forms requesting your email address, and exercise your choice.

If you don't want to receive email from a website operator, don't give them your email address unless they offer the option of declining to receive email and you exercise that option. If you are asked for your email address in an online setting such as a form, make sure you pay attention to any options discussing how the address will be used. Pay attention to check boxes that request the right to send you emails or share your email address with partners. Read the privacy policies of websites. If you suspect that a website has violated its privacy policy, you can report it to your state attorney general or the Federal Trade Commission.

Use multiple email addresses.

When using an unfamiliar website or posting to a newsgroup, establish an email address for that specific purpose. Alternatively, instead of just using one or two email addresses, you can use "disposable email addresses," which consolidate email in a single location but allow you to immediately shut off any address that is attracting spam. By recording which disposable address was used at which web site, one can track what sites are causing spam. Many websites are now providing free email accounts. A search in Google Directory for "disposable email addresses" provides a list of email providers designed for one-time use emails.

Use a filter.

Many ISPs and free email services now provide spam filtering. While filters are not perfect, they can cut down tremendously the amount of spam a user receives.

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