09/09/96 JUNK E-MAIL: GARBAGE IN--AND IN AND IN

JUNK E-MAIL: GARBAGE IN--AND IN AND IN
An explosion of junk E-mail threatens to overwhelm the Net
When CompuServe Inc. subscribers found their electronic mailboxes stuffed with ads last fall, the online service warned the sender--Philadelphia-based Cyber Promotions Inc.--to stop or face a lawsuit. The parties disagree on what happened next, but the junk E-mail is still coming. And Cyber Promotions President Sanford Wallace isn't a bit apologetic: ``You're doing something the whole Internet world is telling you not to do, but we've been doing it quite successfully.''
How true. Cyber Promotions says it mails up to 3 million messages and advertisements per day for companies selling everything from videos to vitamins (table). And that's just the start. Nobody can say precisely how big junk E-mail is, but Internet experts agree that the volume will soar as more marketers discover how cheap it is. A mailing to 1 million people would cost about $827,000, including postage and printing, the Direct Marketing Assn. says. Internet advertisers can reach the same number for the price of a local phone call plus a few hundred dollars for time spent online.
BACKLASH. Even as marketers catch on to junk E-mail, they face a backlash. Net surfers already complain about unwanted messages, and Internet service providers grouse that they aren't being adequately compensated. Even some pioneers of junk E-mail concede that there's a risk that zillions of free offers and other marketing messages could overwhelm the Net. ``It could be a serious problem to the efficiency of the Internet,'' says Neil Albala of Tucson, who developed a so-called bulk E-mail loader called Floodgate for Windows.
Like other junk-mail programs, Floodgate lets an ordinary personal computer blast messages to E-mail addresses sniffed out from online directories, World Wide Web sites, and electronic bulletin boards. For marketers who don't want to operate junk-mail systems themselves, services such as Cyber Promotions will send the ads for them. A few of these services block adult ads, but most will mail whatever a client wants.
What can consumers do to avoid the onslaught? There is no legal prohibition against the practice, but in the Internet community the related practice of blanketing message boards--known as ``spamming''--is dealt with by cyber vigilantes. Spammers are ``flamed''--vilified in reply mail. Likewise, technically savvy E-mail targets can turn the tables on mailers by deluging them with thousands of flame-mail messages or by sending E-mail ``bombs'' containing huge files that tie up computers for hours. But these measures hurt service providers worse than the junk E-mailers, who wind up hopping from system to system--or develop their own domains.
Perhaps most troubling for Internet users, junk E-mailers are increasingly adept at targeting them by gleaning personal information from the Net (page 120). For example, purveyors of quack remedies might grab the online addresses of participants in health-related newsgroups, some of which attempt to be as private and sensitive as support groups.
The rapid expansion of targeted junk E-mail worries privacy advocates. ``If you lack adequate privacy safeguards, you could anticipate Internet meltdown,'' says Electronic Privacy Information Center Director Marc Rotenberg. But it's unlikely that the federal government will step in to mandate protections. Federal Trade Commission Credit Practices Associate Director David Medine says he doesn't favor government involvement in the issue, saying that ``regulation stifles development.''
FIGHTING BACK. For now, the FTC is working with two industry groups--the Direct Marketing Assn. and Interactive Services Assn.--on guidelines to protect privacy in targeted E-mailings. ``The rules are being written as we go,'' admits Interactive Services Assn. spokeswoman Sara Fitzgerald.
Irate Internet surfers are also beginning to fight software with software. James Howard, a University of North Carolina student, is creating a program to block unsolicited E-mail. Says Howard: ``We think there should be technical solutions so you don't get it if you don't want it.'' If such blocking systems spread, consumers and service providers might finally be able to shut out this cyber-annoyance.
By Randi Feigenbaum in New York