A Brief History of Spam
Spammers were quick to adopt crossposting as a tool of their trade. Now, they could send the same electronic message to thousands of newsgroup members at the one time. Not only could they target a larger audience with one posting, but they also did not have to differentiate between the interests and focus of the individual forums that they targeted. What's more it cost them next to nothing to spam these newsgroups.
As email became an increasingly widespread mode of communication, the spammers shifted their focus the massive audience that it made available to them. Mass emailing software soon became another essential tool of their trade, as they begun to use this application to send junk email to thousands upon thousands of unwilling recipients.
The spam industry also adapted the available Internet technology to create the "spambot". A spambot is an automated program that will rove the Internet, "harvesting" email addresses from newsgroup postings and from other websites. It literally gathers thousands of email addresses in a single hour. These are compiled into bulk mailing lists with which the spammers can thousands of victims at a time.
The practice of sending out unsolicited, unwanted junk email and junk postings came to be called "spam." The term is commonly believed to have been derived from a British comedy skit by Monty Python, in which a restaurant serves each meal with a side of spam. As a waitress emphasizes to a couple the availability of spam with every dish, a group of Viking patrons break out in song, singing "SPAM, SPAM, SPAM... lovely SPAM! wonderful SPAM!" in a loud chorus. In the 80's, the term was adopted to refer to the junk emails and postings, and the name stuck.
The earliest, most widely known incident of commercial spamming dates back to 1994. It involved two lawyers who spammed USENET to advertise their services as immigration lawyers. They later expanded their marketing efforts to include email spam. The incident is commonly referred to as the "Green Card Spam."
This nefarious industry has since grown in leaps and bounds. Today, more than half of the trillion-plus emails that are sent and received are spam. Initially, spam was generally advertising-related email. In more recent years, however, a particularly nasty crop of spammers has emerged, who send out their spam with nothing less than malicious and/or criminal intent. Some send out spam that contains viruses or malicious code. Others devise scams intended to defraud you of your money. And then there are those whose focus is identity theft.
Benign or malicious, commercial or criminal - spam has transformed the way we communicate electronically, and will continue to do so well into the near future and very likely beyond. Spam has become a regular, albeit unwanted, fact of online life.
Comments
Menu
My Articles
How Does A Spam Blocker Work?Spam -What Is Your Protection Under The Law?
Whitelists - The Ultimate In Spam Protection
Top 5 Myths About Phishing
How To Choose Anti-spam Filter Software
What Is The Harm With Spam?
Anti-phishing Software
Phishing-101
The Costs Of Spam
Understanding Spam
Top Ten Tricks Of The Spammer
Top 5 Techniques To Protect Yourself From Spam
5 Tips To Protect Yourself From The Spam In Your Inbox
The What, Who, Where And Why Of Spam
Popular Email Scams On The Internet Today
The Next Generation Of Spam: Image And PDF Spam
Protect Your Kids From Spam
How Spammers Get Your Email Address
Top Anti-Spam Filter Reviews
What Can An Anti-spam Firewall Do For You?
How To Report Spam Abuse
Don't Fall For The Phisher's Bait
Spam Protection - Know Thy Enemy: Viruses And Malware, Trojans And Adware
My Articles How Does A Spam Blocker Work? A spam blocker is one way you can effectively cope with the deluge of.. Top Anti-Spam Filter Reviews In the race to provide the best anti-spam system to fight the.. Top 5 Myths About Phishing There are several myths and misconceptions that abound when it comes to.. How To Choose Anti-spam Filter Software Nowadays, spam is more than just an irritating flood unwanted.. |
|
|
Related News:
|