Unsubscribe Warning

Unsubscribe Warning: a reader asks…

I get a lot of unsolicited junk email, and lots from mailing lists I never signed up for. I’ve tried unsubscribing, but the problem seems to be growing. What can I do?

First off I have to warn you that clicking any link in an unsolicited email is risky. Hyperlinks in emails, on websites, even in text messages is absurdly easy to fake. Here’s an example:

• Here’s a link that takes you to my home page: https://google.com
• Here’s a link that takes you to the Google home page: https://positek.net

For many bulk emails that come to your inbox, they are run either by scammers or by bulk mail distributors, neither of which are on your side. When you click an unsubscribe link (or any link for that matter), you are confirming to the sender that your email is being looked at by a human (you), and that you are interacting with junk email. That paints you as a potential target for other junk mail and for scams. This is partly why your problem is growing.

My advice is to never respond to unsolicited emails, just delete them and move on. If you use an email system that lets you mark the email as spam, do so. It’s more work on your part, but ultimately will help you and everybody else. And annoying as this sounds, you might want to consider changing your email address and start fresh, with good habits on the new account so you don’t get on as many junk email lists.

At any moment, over 3 million emails are being sent and delivered to inboxes around the world. Over half of these (or more) are unsolicited, and this problem is growing every year. Email service providers are flailing around trying to block the junk email, but for the most part, are ineffectual. That’s because most email service providers don’t charge you for your email account, and so there’s no real motivation to provide you with any more than the basic service. None of us wants to pay (or pay much) for anything these days, so the providers have to find other ways to make money, and that often means selling…you.

There’s an old saying “if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product being sold.” You in this context meaning your personal data, your privacy, your email address, your digital life. The real solution to the email problem is for everyone to pay the actual cost for the product, but we’re not willing to do that – it would be very expensive. Not to get on a soapbox, but that means we have to put up with the annoyance of junk email, scams, spam, and malware as everyone is trying to make a buck while we all try to avoid spending a buck.