What is Spam?

Most people realize that spam is the receipt of unwanted email, but what many don't know is that spam can come in various other forms as well. It can come through newsgroups, search engines, blogs and guestbooks, cell phones, and even instant messenger services. All types of spam serve a purpose, and all can be extremely disruptive, annoying, and malicious.

The reason spammers use the tactics they use is because it works for them financially. The only costs they incur are the ones associated with maintaining their mailing lists and maintaining an internet connection. Spammers run rampant for the most part, as noted by how many spam emails a person can expect to receive on any given day. I know that personally, a day doesn't go by where I haven't received at least 20 unwanted messages in some form or another. Nobody enjoys spam (except maybe the spammers themselves), and many countries have passed laws and regulations trying to curb it.

When it comes to the spamming of discussion forums, a spammer will join (or post as a guest, if the forum supports it) and bump really old threads or otherwise post in an off-topic manner in order to either disrupt the flow of conversation taking place there, or to advertise something. Many will utilize the forums signature feature to put a link to whatever they're selling, which is then attached to every post they make.

Obviously, spam and SPAM are two different things. The lowercase spam refers to the junk email and junk messages that have been plaguing the internet pretty much since the beginning. SPAM in uppercase refers to the Hormel food product, which by the way, is the state food of Hawaii. Hormel has made it clear that they do not have an issue with their trademarked SPAM being used to describe the epidemic of unsolicited messages, but they have stated that they would prefer that people refer to it using lowercase letters, so as to not infringe on their trademark. There have, however, been situations where Hormel has asked companies to not use the word spam, as in the case of SpamArrest and spambuster.

Spam Videos

Spam News

Facebook Users Targeted in Massive Spam Run - PC World

ABC News

Facebook Users Targeted in Massive Spam Run PC World Facebook's 400 million users have been targeted by a spam run that could infect their computers with malicious software ... Hackers Target Facebook AccountsTopNews United States New password-stealing virus targets FacebookReuters Malicious e-mail to steal password for Facebook usersABH News Gather.com all 122 news articles »

Community leaders aim to Spam Google - Austin Herald

Austin Herald

Community leaders aim to Spam Google Austin Herald Community leaders are trying to entice Google to embrace Spam. Local officials, employees of the Hormel Institute and Hormel Foods Corp. mascot Spammy ... and more »

BF: Bad Company 2 Fight Against Grenade Spam, too - MMORPG News

MTV.com (blog)

BF: Bad Company 2 Fight Against Grenade Spam, too MMORPG News He's invited in to the game for a PSA advertisement called "Friends Really Against Grenade Spam". An interesting video that tell us not to throw spam ... Bad Company 2 Takes Video Shot At Modern Warfare 2G4 TV (blog) Bad Company 2 Grenade Spam PSA Parodies Modern Warfare 2Cinema Blend Bad Company 2 'FRAGS' video continues Modern Warfare mockeryJoystiq (blog) Blast -Examiner.com -TheSixthAxis all 16 news articles »

Virgin Mobile punished for sending spam - Sydney Morning Herald

TheBull.com.au

Virgin Mobile punished for sending spam Sydney Morning Herald The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) investigated alleged breaches of the Spam Act by the mobile phone company when it was made aware of ... ACMA fines Virgin Mobile for violating spam actCFO World Virgin Mobile fined for spamCRN Australia all 33 news articles »

Spammers survive botnet shutdowns - BBC News

BBC News

Spammers survive botnet shutdowns BBC News Spam levels have not been dented by a series of strikes against controllers of networks of hijacked computers. Early 2010 has seen four such networks, ... and more »