FAQs @ the Pub

There is a lot of concern about email, it's security, where it comes from and so on. From 'The Pub' at AFePub.com are a few helpful hints, tips and tricks.

We describe email as being 'on the honor system'. As most of you know that is a pretty bad assumption.

RULE #1: NEVER post your email @ online in you old high school guestbook or family personal website. Not unless you eventually WANT 800 strangers a day greeting you each morning. We provide all our WestILMall.com Stores and Shops with hacker proof 'contact us' scripts. We also have WestIL.net Mall Mail that will give you a SPAM-bot proof contact us web-page alternative to the evil mailto:// link.

SPAM is almost always not from who it says it is, the server info from where it came is almost always 'forged' and unless you complain directly to the seller of the solicitation, 'unsubscribing' will only 'validate' you for more grief. Call and you only give a disreputable vendor more, not less information about yourself.

Keep in mind that SPAM, just like the virus, generally is NOT "from" who it shows. Spammers pick an existing domain and often make up a false identity @. That random misfortune no one can avoid. They see what you see simply by browsing. Stealing a website email identity & forging it is a hazard of the trade. Any of you who have seen a PayPal identity theft forgery know that. If you can not make sense of who it is from, then most likely it is not from them, use your friendly [Delete] key and move on.

With that said we have several cool tools that DO work for subscribing AND unsubscribing customers to your company eNewsletters. If you have a personal customer relationship with a local vendor and KNOW they are legit, then by all means use the 'unsubscribe' tool is legitimate and DOES work just fine. But for the stuff you KNOW you did not signup for, just rely on our excellent SPAM filtering tools that we can set on a personal by personal basis to handle these inevitable nuisance messages. Remember the [Delete] key is often your best friend.

A note, we take our "Trusted Merchants of WestILMall.com" here even further. Email list and tools we empower them with are always "in house" custom designed and not a lazy outsource solution that someone who knows where who hired who knows who has access to at the end of the day. Unsubscribe is totally in house, often automated and definitely home owned goodness.

Email is NOT secure. Well generally not secure. If you use a secure (https://webmail.yourdomain.com) web-mail page to collect your information. Do so on a highly secure system like ours and then securely access your web-mail account you can shut possible 'sniffing' out. POPS and IMAPS (secured Outlook/PC client software methods) also accomplish the same "safe as banking" mail read/write sessions.

Now where it goes from there or how it got to you, kind of makes all for not. However it does mean if you tie secure mail download configuration with a secure webmail customer contact form on your site, then their use of a secure browser session and yours of a secure email download made for secure email messaging as everything was within your controlled space.

Alternatively for pre-arranged 1 to 1 email correspondence, using for example the Comodo secure certificate (free for personal use) by you AND your recipient will fully scramble and secure your email messaging

Things to know:

• An email Digital ID will only 'certify' you are who you say you are
• You must use a PC based email client like Outlook, Outlook Express, etc.
• You [Sign] & email with the "public key" part of your digital-id first
• and they can then [Encrypt] a reply back to you
• only your "private key" on the recipient PC will decrypt that reply
• You can only [Encrypt] a message to them if they have a Digital ID (email certificate) and previously sent a [Sign]ed message to you.
• Email IDs generally have a shelf life of just 12 month.**

Most interestingly they will NOT be able to even read what they send you without their own digital id and public key used to [Encrypt] that message with yours! Not necessary but it's best if you both each have a digital-id.

Other vendors available:

• Thawte - (free personal)
• Verisign - ($19.95/yr)
• Geotrust - ($19.95/yr)

We have tried all three of this.

**Only down side the 'email id' expires every 12 months. You will have to order a new one & any old [Sign]ed or [Encrypted] messages will alert you with an 'certificate expired' warning later.

Our new Web.WestIL.net 'professional level personal hosting and email' products here are the first step to enabling you with this new millennium set of tools. POP3 or https:// secure webmail access. (Plus SPAM filters and server level AntiVirus protection built in with no 'evil ISP email Blacklisting your friends' issues either here.) If your freebie web-mail provider has been bad about sharing your email information or if you have been careless with the personal Internet provider address or if you just want to pawn it off on the kids and get something cooool, WestIL.net may be the answer...BUT only if you are fortunate enough to live in the "not so virtually wise sticks" with us. Business enjoy a bit broader multi state region solely by design and desire to serve the brethren we live amongst. For you out of the area folks, take lesson and demand better treatment I say!