Spam Messages on the Internet

Sources report that bulk mail from Spam account for half of the email traffic on the Net (Webb, 2004 p.2). Spam is, according to the dictionary at gurunet.com (2003), "Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail"(Spam). Spam has very specific characteristics and today we will become more familiar with those qualities. We will examine Spam as it relates to email and, what recourses are available for Spam.

Spam the term originates from a comedy by the Monty Python's Flying Circus (spambolt.com, 2003, p. 3). The comedy is centered on a restaurant that serves excessive amounts of spam with everything. In one scene, a group of Vikings make up a song about spam and sing it until told to be quiet. Because of this song and how the Vikings annoyed the patrons, spam is thought of as annoying and redundant. How the term was actually incorporated into cyberspace is debatable. The first incident that sparked debate about spam was in 1994 two lawyers named Canter and Siegel had a programmer to write a program posting their advertisement on all the newsgroups (spambolt.com, 2003, p. 3). This advertisement flooded newsgroups and caused system problems worldwide.

To define spamming requires you to look at the two different types of spam. The first is Cancellable Usenet Spam. This spam is a message that is sent to at least 20 Usenet newsgroups. It is generally designed to catch people who view newsgroup postings but rarely post or give their personal address. In addition, this type spamming makes the system administrator of the newsgroup sites ability to control what is being posted: unstable (Mueller, p. 1).

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4. Long, L., & Long, N. (2004) Introduction to Computers Information Systems. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.

5. Spice, B. (2004). Here?s what?s being done to eliminate spam. Retrieved May 18, 2004, from http://www.redding.com

6. Solomon, M. (2002). Spam Wars. Retrieved April 27, 2004, from http://www.computerworld.com

7. The CAN-SPAM Act. (2003) Retrieved April 26, 2004, from http://www.ftc.gov

OUTLINE

I. Understanding Spam

A. Define Spam

1. Types of Spam

· Cancelable Usenet

· Email Spam

II. Rulers of the Spam world

A. Spammers

· Who are they

· Who they target

· What they want

III. Spam Rage

A. Why Spam is disliked

· Costly to user

· Production time slowed

· Hides behind other internet systems

IV. Recourse

A. Protection

· Laws

· Watchers

B. Additional Avenues

· Unsubscribe

· Report fraud

V. Conclusion