Share This
Technically Geeking: 94% of All Email Is Spam — No, Really
.
a blogumn by Justin Time
Spam, Spam, Spam… No, I’m not referring to “America’s favorite canned meat.” Sadly, I am talking about spam: everyone’s least favorite email – also known as unsolicited commercial email (UCE). This kind of spam is back to 94% of all email on the internet, according to Postini data (Google’s spam filter service).
“Back to 94%?” you ask. Yep – last fall a security firm discovered that a certain ISP, San Jose(CA)-based McColo Corp, was facilitating as much as 75% of all junk email. The ISPs connected to them promptly pulled the plug when they found out, and spam was instantly cut in half. That was nice for a few months, but now spam is back, and it’s mad as hell.
“What’s the big deal ?” you say. “Either my spam filter catches it or I delete it and move on.” Well, the big deal is that 94% of all email translates to a huge percentage of the bandwidth on the internet being wasted on this garbage. For now, the internet can handle the bandwidth demands, but there is concern that the growth rate of internet usage is outpacing the capacity. That could mean that soon your favorite YouTube video will grind to a halt as high speed internet becomes a sad joke. Also, there is the personal productivity perspective: if you spend 1 minute of every hour deleting spam, that means that over 33 hours of your 2000-hour work year are lost to this demon. Over the course of a 40 year career, you lose 55 days.
“What can I do about spam?” you wonder. As someone who has made a living over email for about 10 years, I have seen more than my fair share of spam. On a typical day, I receive 150-200 junk messages. But I don’t let it get me down. After the jump, here are some ways you can take a bite out of spam, both in your personal life as well as in the more global sense.

SpamSieve: protecting me from 4 hour erections
1. Spam filter. The aforementioned Postini comes with Gmail, and I hear good things. If, like me, you don’t want Gmail, you can use another spam filter service online, such as Spam Arrest. Since I check my email using a local mail client (Entourage), I use a spam filter installed on my computer – SpamSieve. You train the software to recognize spam, and after a few days of training, it automatically deletes spam before it even lands on your plate.
2. Don’t subscribe. The more websites you give your email address to, the more email you get. Some companies will sell your email to other companies so they can spam you. You wouldn’t know this unless you read their privacy policy, but who does that? Consider using an alternate email address you don’t often check when subscribing to less reputable websites.
3. Get a Mac. Well, sort of. Many spammers use viruses to turn Windows machines into slaves that unknowingly send out dirty emails by the thousands. A network of infected machines is known as a botnet. For the longest time, hackers didn’t make viruses for Macs, so they were untouched by these problems. Those glory days may be coming to a close, however, as the first Mac botnet was just recently discovered.
4. Spread the word. Readers of this blog surely know that you never open an attachment from a shady email or your computer will possibly be infected (and join a botnet). But many of our elders are not aware of these dangers. If we educate people about viruses, we can at least reduce the volume of spam sent by botnets.
On a lighter note, find out how SPAM (the canned meat company) feels about spam (the crappy email).
As much as I hate the goverment spying on it's people I would love it if they could track down the spammers and put them in jail for a long time.
and thanks to the link to the spam website. I love spam "the food"
Do you have the SPAM cookbook? As you surely know, Hawaiians adore the stuff.
No but I want it. My dad was in the navy during ww2 and he loved spam so I ate a lot of it as well. What I really want is the pink spam onesies for Betty
I'm saying no to the spam onesie right now. Spam is disgusting and has no place on this earth.
Damn, I was about to go order it right this second!
Their merchandise is amazing. I want all of it.
Don't you want it for the irony?
Justin. It's a pig w/ a heart inside and it says "SPAM BABY" w/ a trademark symbol. No!
Oh, and just in case the rest of you want to see what we're talking about: http://www.spam.com/Shop/ProductDetail.aspx?Produ…
how about this one?
http://www.spam.com/Shop/ProductDetail.aspx?Categ…
Eww, no! What part of "spam is the devil's food" are you people not understanding? And please don't conspire with slpc and justin to dress betty in spam wear behind my back…
um… I have to say… I hated the stuff till I realized on skewers with some teryiyaki glaze and pineapple all grilled up at burning man, it can be a devil's treat! It was actually delicious. Would I rush to cook it now that i'm back here in civilization… um probably not…
Now about the onesie… I see ernessa's point, but I kind of like the whole creepy sick pop culture grossitude of it all! It also makes it appear like your child itself is spam… as if you should be looking for the pull tab… Way more creative and fun than a hipster baby Clash t-shirt…
what do you have against the clash. and CH has tried to pull that "it taste good if you cook it right" malarky on me and I'll tell you what I told him. Spam is Spam. And it's gross no matter how you try to disguise it.
PS: http://retardedinlove.com/2009/04/09/inappropriat…
I loved the one that said "Mommy Drinks Because I Cry"
As much as I hate the goverment spying on it's people I would love it if they could track down the spammers and put them in jail for a long time.
and thanks to the link to the spam website. I love spam "the food"
Do you have the SPAM cookbook? As you surely know, Hawaiians adore the stuff.
No but I want it. My dad was in the navy during ww2 and he loved spam so I ate a lot of it as well. What I really want is the pink spam onesies for Betty
I'm saying no to the spam onesie right now. Spam is disgusting and has no place on this earth.
Damn, I was about to go order it right this second!
Their merchandise is amazing. I want all of it.
Don't you want it for the irony?
Justin. It's a pig w/ a heart inside and it says "SPAM BABY" w/ a trademark symbol. No!
Oh, and just in case the rest of you want to see what we're talking about: http://www.spam.com/Shop/ProductDetail.aspx?Produ…
how about this one?
http://www.spam.com/Shop/ProductDetail.aspx?Categ…
Eww, no! What part of "spam is the devil's food" are you people not understanding? And please don't conspire with slpc and justin to dress betty in spam wear behind my back…
um… I have to say… I hated the stuff till I realized on skewers with some teryiyaki glaze and pineapple all grilled up at burning man, it can be a devil's treat! It was actually delicious. Would I rush to cook it now that i'm back here in civilization… um probably not…
Now about the onesie… I see ernessa's point, but I kind of like the whole creepy sick pop culture grossitude of it all! It also makes it appear like your child itself is spam… as if you should be looking for the pull tab… Way more creative and fun than a hipster baby Clash t-shirt…
what do you have against the clash. and CH has tried to pull that "it taste good if you cook it right" malarky on me and I'll tell you what I told him. Spam is Spam. And it's gross no matter how you try to disguise it.
PS: http://retardedinlove.com/2009/04/09/inappropriat…
I loved the one that said "Mommy Drinks Because I Cry"
I hate both food spam and email spam. But thanks for the SpamSieve tip. My FaN address has become a bit of a nightmare, and I've been thinking I should try to get it out of control. The big problem is that I get so much email from legitimate people who aren't in my address, and I don't want their emails to get caught up in my spam filter. So I've left it completely unfiltered. And now it's a nightmare. But I'm afraid to fix it b/c … you see how circular this problem becomes.
Here's the thing: when does spam become harrassment? Like if I block the user and he starts sending me stuff from a ghost machine, if that user is caught, shouldn't he go down on harrassment charges as well?
Also, I wonder about the people who are actually responding to spam. If everyone ignored it, wouldn't it die w/o the oxygen of people actually buying their product? I'm very curious and a little mad that there are consumers that keep spammers in business. Seriously, who are these people?
I would think you are correct – spam would die if ignorant and/or stupid people stopped responding to it. But the possibility of making 10K a month sitting on your fat ass is too alluring I believe. And who does not "Need more powers to make her satisfied?"
I would think you are correct – spam would die if ignorant and/or stupid people stopped responding to it. But the possibility of making 10K a month sitting on my fat ass is too alluring I believe. And who does not "Need more powers to make her satisfied?"
I hate both food spam and email spam. But thanks for the SpamSieve tip. My FaN address has become a bit of a nightmare, and I've been thinking I should try to get it out of control. The big problem is that I get so much email from legitimate people who aren't in my address, and I don't want their emails to get caught up in my spam filter. So I've left it completely unfiltered. And now it's a nightmare. But I'm afraid to fix it b/c … you see how circular this problem becomes.
Here's the thing: when does spam become harrassment? Like if I block the user and he starts sending me stuff from a ghost machine, if that user is caught, shouldn't he go down on harrassment charges as well?
Also, I wonder about the people who are actually responding to spam. If everyone ignored it, wouldn't it die w/o the oxygen of people actually buying their product? I'm very curious and a little mad that there are consumers that keep spammers in business. Seriously, who are these people?
I would think you are correct – spam would die if ignorant and/or stupid people stopped responding to it. But the possibility of making 10K a month sitting on your fat ass is too alluring I believe. And who does not "Need more powers to make her satisfied?"
I would think you are correct – spam would die if ignorant and/or stupid people stopped responding to it. But the possibility of making 10K a month sitting on my fat ass is too alluring I believe. And who does not "Need more powers to make her satisfied?"
betty needs the spam onesie. i'll make her wear it when i babysit.
I fully endorse this… hehehe
betty needs the spam onesie. i'll make her wear it when i babysit.
I fully endorse this… hehehe