spam - technical definition

E-mail that is not requested. Also known as "unsolicited commercial e-mail" (UCE), "unsolicited bulk e-mail" (UBE), "gray mail" and just plain "junk mail," the term is both a noun (the e-mail message) and a verb (to send it). Spam is mostly used to advertise products and sometimes to broadcast some political or social commentary.

The term was supposedly coined from a Monty Python comedy sketch in the early 1970s, in which every item on a restaurant menu contained SPAM, and there was nothing a customer could do to get a meal without it. The sketch was derived from the fact that in England during World War II, SPAM (Hormel's processed meat) was abundantly available while other foods were rationed. Many believe spam is an acronym for "sales promotional advertising mail" or "simultaneously posted advertising message."

A Social Plague
Like viruses, spam has become a scourge on the Internet as billions of unwanted messages are transmitted daily to almost every e-mail recipient as well as to newsgroups. Unfortunately for users and fortunately for spammers, as an advertising medium, spam does produce results. Even if only an infinitesimal number of users reply, it is still cost effective since e-mail is a very inexpensive way to reach people.

ISPs Work Overtime
In order to alleviate some spam, ISPs have added an enormous number of servers doing nothing more than spam filtering (see spam filter). The CAN-SPAM act in the U.S. became law on January 1, 2004, which provides severe penalties for spammers, if they can be located (see CAN-SPAM). Since then, spam has been on the rise with an estimated 183 billion spam messages per day in 2006 or 70% of all e-mail traffic. See image spam, SPIM, SPIT, mobile phone spam, form spam, mail bomb, Joe Job, SPF, letter bomb, spamdexing, Blacklist of Internet Advertisers, munging, RBL, ROKSO, MAPS, spam relay, spam trap, botnet, rogue site and opt-in.

Why Do They Do It?

Simple math. Suppose that out of 2,000 spam messages, one person clicks the link, and the spammer makes $1. If a million spams were sent that day, the spammer made $500, and the job might have taken a half hour to set up. That means only a few hours per week could yield $100,000 a year. Is that incentive enough for high-school students, or would they rather go back to their paper routes? Of course, consistent revenues are not guaranteed, but some spammers make a whole lot more than $100,000 every year. In any case, there is ample motivation.

Spam Filters Create More Spam
As spam filtering becomes more sophisticated, spammers have to send even more spam to make the same money, but e-mail lists can be purchased for very little or hijacked. There is a thriving business selling e-mail lists to spammers as well as lists of compromised computers (see zombie). There are even third-party spam service providers that will do all the work for you.

Easy to Rationalize
Spammers justify their existence by citing the enormous amount of unsolicited ads we get via the postal system, which wastes trees and other resources. They claim advertisers pollute the environment every day with obnoxious ads on TV, radio, buses and billboards. Of course, they have a point, especially regarding the tons of paper thrown in the "real" trash can every day. However, none of these other approaches threaten to close down the system they live in.