Why you may not be getting all your e-mails from us.

A few members have informed the AICPA that they have not been getting e-mails from the Institute when others they know have gotten the messages. A couple of reasons may be the filters or tools used by Internet Service Providers, such as AOL, Yahoo and MSN, to name but a few. to help eliminate unsolicited e-mail (SPAM). Your company's network software may also be blocking some e-mails. Unfortunately, sometimes these "filters" block e-mail that you may want.

Because of the large number and diversity of providers and e-mail filtering tools, the Institute can only offer a general suggestion to help ensure that you get the e-mail you want while still minimizing SPAM.

SPAM blockers use various methods to identify and manage SPAM. They can allow users to maintain their own personal "white list" of legitimate e-mail addresses, maintain a personal "blacklist" of blocked e-mail addresses or access community white lists or blacklists of known SPAMmer e-mail addresses. If you have access to add e-mail addresses to your system "white list." doing so is often the easiest way to ensure you do not miss that important e-mail. Very often these types of lists are maintained by your Internet provider.

In general, SPAM blockers employ some type of category filters to allow the user or an administrator to set higher sensitivity to e-mail of a particular type (i.e., sexually explicit). However. in raising the sensitivity, the implicit trade-off is that the...