Spam levels for the third quarter of 2009 averaged about 88.1% compared to 81% for the same period in 2008 says Yahan Wu.  Spam is such a big pain in the neck but it is also something you will have to learn to live with.  It is best that you be frugal and thrifty about sharing your email id.

There are plenty of ways to fight spam.  A few of them are:

1. Use disposable email addresses.
2. While filling out forms read twice and understand the check boxes before marking them.
3. Obfuscate your email id
4. Create filters in your mail clients and many others.

They have their own pros and cons.

I would like to introduce you to a new service.  It is free and innovative.  At least I haven’t come across a similar service so far.

Scr.im is a free service and it converts your email address into a “safe and short” URL.  For instance if your email id is joebill@mymail.com it converts it into a http://scr.im/joebill

When some one wants to mail you, s/he is led to this URL (http://scr.im/joebill).  They are presented with a 3*3 grid with alphanumeric text boxes.  Identify the matching alphanumeric text block presented and the actual email id is revealed.

There are three more unique features to this service.  It tells you the number of times the email id had been viewed.  Click on the ‘compose mail in GMail’ option you are taken to your Gmail account.  When you click on the ‘copy email to clipboard’ option it confirms your action and paste it in any other application.  Yes, it is similar to a captcha.  At least with this service you can avoid bots and automated scripts.

You can reach this service here.

BTW for information on Spam Mail figures and Yahn Wu ‘s report click here.

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