While most of the world is simply trying to ignore spam with the “delete” key, others have recognized that spam is becoming unmanageable and grows in quantity the longer you use an email address. Many fight spam with:

• Blocking – Your email program or ISP (Internet Service Provider) may allow you to Block specific senders from delivering any email to you. This allows you to block regular senders of spam. Unfortunately, since spammers constantly change the addresses they send from this method only stops the least sophisticated spammers and hardly any spam.
• Filters – Your ISP, email provider or private software company can sometimes provide a filtering technology that attempts to identify spam (by keywords) before it arrives in your inbox and diverts that message into a “Junk Mail” or “Spam” folder, where it is later deleted. The problem with this method is that ‘good’ email is often identified as spam and deleted without your knowledge. These are called “false positives” and are the biggest problem with what would otherwise be the most effective way to combat spam.
• Opting Out (Unsubscribing) – Many commercial emails provide a button or link that you can click to Opt-Out of the sender’s mailing list so you don’t get any messages from that sender in the future. The US government has recently identified this as the best way for its citizens to determine which email they choose to receive and which they choose not to receive. The biggest drawback to this method is that (as of December 2003) some commercial emails either do not have opt-out mechanisms or do not have ones that work. Recent legislation (the CAN-SPAM Act) seeks to ensure that ALL commercial email in the future have working unsubscribe functions. Based on this development, Opting Out will be the best long-term solution to spam.

LashBack incorporates nearly all of the modern methods in spam-fighting. It gives the option to Block specific senders, allows you to filter future messages based on the information that LashBack members supply, and will allow you to opt-out of spam with the click of a button.

We at LashBack know that Opting Out will ultimately result in the least Spam received by its members, but also recognize that Blocking and Filtering can bring a more immediate result to spam-elimination and provide some personal customization that many email users desire. By using all three popular methods (and more), we can ensure that our customers receive the least spam possible.

The CAN-SPAM Act, which was just recently made law in the United States protects citizens from the tide of spam by requiring commercial emails to have a working “Unsubscribe” button or link in it. Failure to comply would result in criminal charges. A conviction would mean fines and/or prison time. This is a wonderful development in the fight against spam, but it has its problems.

While the details of the enforcement of such a law are being rolled out, you will continue to get spam today. And once the law has truly taken effect, you will still have to MANUALLY opt out – meaning you will have to spend more time clicking on links in spam and filling out forms just to unsubscribe. For most of us, this means that we’ll have to spend more time than ever on spam, just to take advantage of the new law.

LashBack AUTOMATICALLY unsubscribes you from messages identified as spam. With one-button, you block the sender, filter future messages from that sender and automatically find their unsubscribe form to fill it out.

Some spammers make fake unsubscribe buttons/links and use clicks to determine which email addresses are valid – so they can continue to spam them.

LashBack addresses this possibility with a 'Trust System' which identifies email advertisers as Trusted (someone known to honor Unsubscribe requests), Untrusted (someone who is known to abuse the requests to send more spam), or Unknown.

Advertisers begin as labeled 'Unknown,' during which time your Opt-out requests are recorded by the LashBack servers but are not sent. Instead, LashBack sends out a 'probe' (an opt-out request by the server) to test to determine if the process is safe. If it's safe, the advertiser becomes Trusted and your request is processed. If it is unsafe (they send back spam), they become Untrusted and your request is not sent (you simply block and filter them, while LashBack gathers evidence of their illegal activity). If LashBack cannot determine either way (say, the link is broken), your opt-out request is held while additional testing is conducted.

This is the Safe Unsubscribe feature we've patent-pending.

The other three buttons are:

• Add To SafeList - Highlight a message and click this button to add a relative, friend, coworker or other trusted source to a list of addresses which guarantees messages from those email addresses will always be delivered successfully to you.
• Configure - Change your personal options, review your blocked list, initiate a scan for spam in your inbox and much more.
• Reports - Launches our Spam Control program which can let you run reports to determine what messages are being filtered, who's sending them, which ones are honoring your opt-out requests and more.

LashBack protects all email addresses used by one computer (that are configured for use with email clients we support). A separate copy of LashBack is required for additional computers, but not for additional email addresses.

While the amount of processing power devoted to LashBack is customizable, most users will default to the same amount of processing power and internet bandwidth usage as would be required to view a simple web page. In other words, you are highly unlikely to notice any diminishment in processing power or internet speed.

While it is unlikely, it is possible that while you begin to use the Filtering offered by LashBack, some email from trusted sources may diverted incorrectly into the Spam folder. If this happens, simply highlight the message in your spam folder and click on “Add to SafeList” so that any message from that email address will always be allowed to go into your inbox.

It is highly recommended that you add all friends, family and other trusted email addresses to your SafeList as soon as you install LashBack to ensure the best possible filtering results.

On the LashBack toolbar, click on “Configure” and choose the “Spam Control" button (alternately, you can double-click the Lashback icon in your system tray). Click on the green SafeList button to access the list of trusted addresses. Then, click on “Add” and type in the email address to be added. Click OK and you’re done!