Title:  What can be done about the junk email I am getting?

Question:
I keep getting messages that are commercial advertisements or simply
information I don't want. Are there ways to prevent this or stop it once it
starts?

Answer:
Note: The information here DOES NOT address harassment or illegal
  activities. Such instances should be reported to Computing &
  Communications by sending email to: help@cac.washington.edu.

Unwanted email can come from many sources: commercial solicitors, 
someone promoting a "worthwhile cause," mistakes in message addressing, 
and improperly configured email programs.

Often the quickest solution is just to delete the unwanted messages from
your inbox (though it is common courtesy to reply to a sender who has
obviously misaddressed a personal message).

Preventing unsolicited mail and taking action against those sending it
can be difficult or impossible. A lot of information about spam, including
suggestions for consumers is provided by the Federal Trade Commission at

     http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/index.html

and at the Center for Democracy & Technology is a research report titled
"Why Am I Getting All This Spam?" 

     http://www.cdt.org/speech/spam/030319spamreport.pdf

The Washington State Attorney General publishes the applicable Washington
State laws, a complaint form, and other information at: 

     http://www.atg.wa.gov/junkemail/

The UW does some general email screening.  Messages are scanned to see
if they contain viruses, and, if so, they are deleted.  In addition,
a limited list of sources, known to send only spam messages, are blocked.

The variety of legitimate email coming in to the UW makes it impractical to
completely screen out spam without mistakenly deleting messages that some
people really want.  So we try to help people manage spam by assigning 
a spam 'score' to the messages that get delivered.

You can activate and configure a Junk Email Filter for 
your account's UW Email Inbox.  It will move messages that appear to be 
spam to a junk-mail folder based on a a sensitivity level that you set 
and can adjust as needed.

The UW-developed, Web-based Junk Email Filter service is part of a
utility called the Email Delivery Manager. You'll find the Email Delivery
Manager on the Web. Just go to MyUW:

        https://myuw.washington.edu

In the MyUW "MyFrontPage" box labeled "Email" choose the "Junk Email (spam)
Filter" link to get to the Email Delivery Manager.

There are also tools available in some email systems that allow "filtering"
of incoming messages.  However, it can be difficult to set parameters
for filtering unwanted messages without blocking legitimate mail.