“SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM… lovely SPAM, wonderful SPAM”
By Stevie Gerber
What is SPAM?
The increasing use of the internet by commercial companies also brought unwanted advertising on the internet. In the beginning of Internet when it was mainly used by universities and other institutions, people where only focusing on what to do and what not to do when receiving e-mails. One of those rule, of the still in early fase communicator, was not to use it for any commercial purposes. People who didn’t stick to the rules could count on a mailbom. Receiving unwanted advertisements in your inbox is just like receiving by normal mail. People estimate that 10% of the e-mails traffic is generated by SPAM.
The history of SPAM
It is widely believed the term SPAM comes from a 1970 Monty Python sketch. It took place in a café where almost everything on the menu contained SPAM. As the waiter tells about the menu a group of Vikings sing through the conversation singing “SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM… lovely SPAM, wonderful SPAM”
Sorts of SPAM
E-mail SPAM is sending of unwanted e-mail messages, often with advertisements, to a large amount of unknown receivers. When the Internet was made public to general public in the mid-90’s SPAM became a huge problem. People these days are trying to make SPAM e-mail illegal. This has been successful in some countries or states. The Spammers are always trying for new ways to get the SPAM across and are often outsourcing spamming to countries where SPAM is not illegal.
Mobile SPAM is a new way of getting unwanted advertisements across. This is done via a text messaging service of a mobile phone and known as M-SPAM. It is known when you enter the gambling island of Macau you get a text message saying: “Welcome to the island of Macau”…”Would you like to come to our casino?” Now a days there is a lot of sms traffic and so also a lot of M-SPAM. Unlike E-mail spam, it is almost impossible to delete a mobile SPAM message without reading it.
Non-commercial SPAM is different from the SPAM you receive in your inbox or on your phone. This type of SPAM doesn’t contain any commercial advertisement, but are mostly religious or political. This can be used for elections.
How to prevent SPAM
Preventing SPAM is better than to fight SPAM. Most of the methods to stop SPAM, aren’t of any good use, because the e-mail addresses are know by a lot of spammers. A SPAM filter is one of the most popular and effective methods to prevent SPAM from coming into your inbox. A SPAM filter looks at e-mails and searches for words in messages that can point out SPAM. If you receive SPAM you can imagine what these words could be like. A SPAM filter can hold lists of servers that send out SPAM and block these servers.
An E-mail address can get to a spammer in many ways. Most of the time a automated system searches the internet for e-mail addresses. One of the ways to prevent spam is not to make your e-mail address public. For instance don’t enter your e-mail on sites where it’s not necessary. If you do enter your e-mail address make sure that it’s only viewable by other members of that particular site.
Conclusion
As long as people stay connected to each other through some kind of connection there will always be some kind of SPAM. You can’t fight SPAM you can only prevent it by being cautious.
Sources
Spam(electronic) Wikipedia-the free encyclopedia. Geraadpleegd op: 8 Januari 2008, van:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_%28electronic%29
Innovatie: MIME support team. Geraadpleegd op 8 Januari 2008, van:http://www.surfnet.nl/innovatie/mimest/spam/
Spam voorkomen en bestrijden – introductie. Geraadpleegd op 8 Januari 2008, van:http://www.tekstenuitleg.net/artikelen/spam_voorkomen_bestrijden/1
Appendix 3B – Weblog article peer review form
Weblog Article Peer Review Form B – Second Review
Writer’s Name Stevie Gerber
Assessor’s name Tagel van den Oever
Date January 9 TH 2008
Rating Scale: 1 = Yes 2 = Somewhat 3 = No
Rate the article by giving a 1, 2 or 3 for each question.
Read the article once to get a general idea of what it is about,
then read it a second time to rate it.
1. Is the topic interesting? __1__
2. Is the title original and appropriate? ___1_
3. Is the introduction complete? __1__
4. Is the body of your article complete? _1___
5. Is the conclusion well-developed? ___1_
6. Is the article well-organized overall? __1__
7. Is the article easy to understand? ___1_
8. Is the article interesting to read? __1__
9. Has any plagiarised material been removed? _3___
Do you feel that the writer has improved the article? Why or why not? Be specific.
Yes, he has! The article has a body, wich makes it easier to understand
Has the writer changed the article adequately according to your suggestions forimprovement of your first assessment? Describe the changes and state specifically whether you think they are an improvement.
Yes, he did! The only recommendation I had, was that he should improve the body of the article.
Are you happy to have this article on your weblog? Why or why not? Be specific.
Yes, I’m happy. His idea to write an article about spam was great, he was the first onewho come up with this idea.
_______________________________________________________________
Give the writer this completed form.
