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June 12, 2003

Pitt plans to look at options for blocking “spam”

Sick of checking your e-mail, only to find dozens of messages offering special deals on Viagra, refinancing your mortgage and kicking your cigarette addiction?

If unwanted e-mail — “spam” — is clogging your in-box, you’re not alone. E-mail is becoming an endangered mode of communication, some computer system managers say, because users increasingly can’t be bothered to sort worthwhile messages from spam.

Provost James Maher said he plans to consult with Pitt’s Council on Academic Computing for guidance on anti-spam tactics such as acquiring software that filters out junk messages. The council advises the provost on academic computing needs throughout the University.

Maher told Senate Council June 9: “The key is to have somebody like that council, which has knowledgeable faculty, look over what products are out there to filter out spam. We have to make sure that we don’t put in a filter that would cut out communications that some people do want to see.”

The provost’s comments were prompted by a complaint from University Senate president James Cassing. “Gosh, it’s getting annoying,” Cassing said of the spam barrage. “Particularly as you get older, you get pretty embarrassing spam.”

“It is getting to the point,” Maher noted, “where people are complaining that they just don’t read their e-mail.”

— Bruce Steele


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