Blazers with binx accounts receive inappropriate spam

Many students with binx accounts are receiving spam in their inboxes containing pornography and advertisement links. Binx is the computer that hosts BEN and all other Blair web sites.

According to Peter Hammond, the User Support Technician, spam filters are in place but do not guarantee complete spam elimination. "Spam filters are imperfect," he said. "The people who make spam spend most of their time looking at filters and working to get around them."

Additionally, the BEN filter level is not set at its highest. "You have to constantly make sure our filters are up to date," Hammond said. "Recently, we just upped the spam filters, and we got complaints from the PTSA. Some parents were trying to e-mail teachers, and [the e-mails didn't go through]." Students with BEN accounts can change the level of their e-mail filters from off to high by going to the preferences section from their BEN start page.

Spam e-mails, the electronic equivalent of junk-mail, are often full of typos and sometimes come from online stores selling counterfeit merchandise. Some spam even takes the form of notices about spam infiltrating inboxes. The automated response from BEN warns that such e-mail may contain viruses and opening links in the e-mail could affect the computer.

The number of spam e-mails circulating through BEN is unknown, according to senior BEN manager Michael Forbes. "We don't really have a junk mail, so it's hard to have a number," said Forbes. Without spam e-mails directly entering a junk mail box, there is no way to count how much spam enters BEN.

Hammond believes the filter settings are as good as they will get. "You have to decide which end of the spectrum you want to be on. We've picked our spot; we adjust every once in a while," said Hammond.