Slow Down the Spread of SPAM

Although there are many ways to protect yourself and others from SPAM, using the Bcc field when sending email is quite important. Being a technophobe I did not even know what Bcc was until recently when my friend politely informed me that the way I send messages (adding everyone to the "To" field) is a bad practice.

Now that I know better, I decided to look this up in more detail and share the main points about this with you. Here is what I found:

What is BCC?

In the context of email correspondence, BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) allows the sender of a message to conceal email addresses from the other recipients.

It is a good practice to use the Bcc: field when addressing a list of recipients who may not necessarily know each other, e.g. in mailing lists.

Also, if you forward a message, take the time to remove all existing email addresses within the message.

What is the difference between "To", "Cc" and "Bcc"?

When you add addresses into the "To" or "Cc" field, everyone who gets the email can see the addresses of all the people you are sending the message to. When you add addresses into the Bcc-field, no one can see who else gets the email.

Why should you use the Bcc address field?

There are a number of reasons for using the Bcc feature when sending emails.

• Privacy
  It is important to keep lists of recipients confidential and to avoid listing the email addresses on the message being sent to others. Most people on your list don't want you to share their address with everyone else.
• SPAM
  You can prevent the spread of spam, viruses and other malware by avoiding the accumulation of block-list email addresses available to all recipients. If even just one person of those you emailed gets a virus, every person on that list is in risk of becoming another target as most viruses check for and collect email addresses on the compromised computer.
• Accidental Reply to All
  With Bcc you may prevent someone from using the "Reply All" by mistake and sending the message to the entire recipient list.

How do you Bcc an email message?

Most email clients have the option for Bcc listed a few lines below the To: field. However, sometimes this option is not listed by default and needs to be enabled first in the program settings/preferences.

If your email client will not send a message without an address in the To: field, consider using your own email address in that field. In addition to hiding the identity of other recipients, this will enable you to confirm that the message was sent successfully.

I hope you find this helpful.
Cheers ;-)