Sex, Drugs & Rock and Roll

I checked my America Online inbox today to discover that I had 140 new messages since in a week.

Batman receives SPAM, too!

Naturally, I was excited to see who wanted to catch up, what was happening with friends, or what jokes my family had sent.

Of the 140 new messages, 136 of them were SPAM. I had offers for male genital enhancements, jewelry specials, club memberships, clothing sales, and political propaganda. There were offers for diapers, disinfectant wipes, and candles. How many did I open and read? ZERO.

I’m not alone in this situation. Spam represents 60% of all Internet e-mail, representing over 76 billion messages that require nearly 10 petabytes of storage (Sipior, Ward and Bonner, 2004).

You just can't escape it!

So, why do companies send out mass e-mails?

Well, it’s cheap. Spam over the Internet can be sent essentially for free (Dettmer, 2003). But, other people end up paying for spam. For example, if you pay as you go with Internet access, you’re paying to look at the spam in your mailbox. If you check your mail at work, your employer is paying for it.

What can be done about receiving spam e-mail?

One way to block SPAM

Don’t share your e-mail address

This won’t guarantee you won’t receive spam, but it will cut down on it.

Install Spam blockers

You run the risk of blocking messages from friends and family with this option, but it’s worth a shot. You can block keywords or e-mail addresses, depending on what type of blocker you install.

Delete it

This is the most popular method of cleaning out inboxes that have been polluted with spam. Select all messages then click on delete… They’re gone!