Net Gains: Jun 04, 1999 - one of Lyndon Cerejo's published articles

Readers have been writing in with an increasing frequency about unwanted email - also known as junkk email or spam. While this has been a big industry in the US (send email to thousands of people and charge clients for it), laws are slowly being put into place to deal with it. Sadly enough, spam is now becoming more common here in India.

Just last week, I got a mail from IndiaMart talking about their site. According to them, the email was a 'courtesy' and if I didn't want them to spam me on an ongoing basis, I would have to ask them to remove me. I wouldn't have minded it so much if I had signed up for something (a freebie / service) on their site and then got email from them. But they got hold of a whole set of VSNL server addresses and sent this mail out - now that's unethical and illegal according to VSNL. How would you like it if you got email? Voice your opinion below:

When I get unsolicited email, I:
Track their ISP (from the headers) and complain.
Always reply back asking them to remove me from their list.
Look to see if there's some offer that's useful for me.
Delete without reading.
Don't mind it.
(press button once and continue reading the column)

None of us like what's happening between us and Pakistan in Kashmir. How we react to it is what makes a world of a difference. One email that arrived last week was from "Nawaz Sharief <[email protected]>" (obviously a fake free email address). The email referred to an attached image which apparently "captured the arts, science, culture, values, ethics and the spirit of Pakistan". The image? A gross, pornographic image in a loo. Thumbs down to the sender. And don't write in asking for the pic - it's been deleted long ago!

Reader Ashutosh Buch has chosen a more positive approach - he has created a webpage as a tribute to the two IAF pilots India lost in air fights against infiltrators in Kahsmir. One page - a single page. Yet, enough to convey a lot. Way to go Ashutosh!

Another young reader, Vikrant Paralkar, has created a mini website about the Discoveries of the Voyager Space Mission . His interest in astronomy made him work on this topic for a school project. And having understood the sharing nature of the Internet, he has put this online for others interested to browse through the pages, which also contain images and statistical data.

Reader Arun Raisinghani has a personal webpage with all the usual elements - a page about himself, his music collection, jokes, interesting links etc. But some unique features on his page are the availability of material related to the first year of engineering: syllabus, timetables, and lab assignments! Those interested in Pascal programming would love his programs and tutorial downloadables.

This month, we also have a site worth making a song and dance about. Vasumathi Badrinathan is a leading Carnatic Vocal and Bharata Natyam artiste. Her homepage would easily qualify as a website from the richness of content, and structured presentation available here. Besides her profile, you can learn more about Carnatic Music through a series of articles she has penned and are available online.

And last, but not the least, if you've been wondering what ERP is all about, here's your chance to educate yourself - for free! Last Friday, Shammi Kapoor inaugurated an ERP tutorial site by Vijay Mukhi, Chirag Unadkat, and Sonal Kotecha. The website is the online version of a book they recently released. A small warning though - if you think it'll be cheaper for you to read the book online instead of buying it, don't even think about it!

	Net Gains (Jun 04, 99)
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