Spam: The Email Meat You Love to Hate (Part 1)
by Bob Morse

(This article appeared in the Eureka Times-Standard, Ocotober 7, 2003)

"Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, lovely spam! Wonderful spam!" – The Viking Chorus from Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

Had enough spam? This is the first of a two-part article on spam and how to deal with it in some detail. Part 2 will discuss what can be done about it. However, you won't have to wait until next week for the answer to the question: : "What’s the best way to get rid of all this spam!?" Don't wait because I'm going to give you the answer right here: Get used to it. Sorry. There is no single, simple solution to the spew of inane, and offensive messages flooding our email in-boxes. Like the ever-elusive cure for cancer, the answers to the spam epidemic hold lots of promise, provide some moderate relief, but ultimately fail to offer a cure or a vaccine that will rid us of the scourge forever.

What is Spam?
The term itself seems to go way back to the 1980s where it was used by MUDers (multi-user dungeons: text environments built for MUDers to explore) to describe the action of flooding an environment with useless data. The term has evolved over time to include commercial posts made to Usenet newsgroups to where most people think of spam now as anything they receive via email that they don't want. For the curious, a great history of the term can be found at http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamterm.html.

Over the last couple years, the volume of spam has grown so great that it is no longer just an irritant, but is beginning to threaten the viability of email and other Internet protocols for personal and business communication.

Why Can't We Fix It?
We are all hoping for a simple way to rid the world of spam. Some solutions do exist and research continues. But none of them are simple. One of the biggest problems is identifying the target. How could a piece of software or a law determine what any individual defines as unwanted email? Unsolicited Commercial Email (U.C.E.) is the "official" term for spam. Basically, that is any email you receive from a business with which you have had no previous relationship. But can a piece of software automatically sort this out for you?

Many people also consider email from companies with which they already have had some previous relationship to be spam, especially if they didn't request to be sent promotional material.

Most of us would be happy just to be rid of all the messages that offer to turn us into bosomy priapic hermaphrodites. On the other hand a few bits of spam such as the one from the alien who needs a part for his spaceship and asks you to meet him somewhere in Ohio or the spam trying to sell holy water from Lourdes are too entertaining to pass up. I especially like the spam about software that promises to rid my mailbox of spam! (Not!)

As a result, software solutions, whether at the server level (your Internet Service Provider), or at the client level (your personal machine where you receive email) need to be strong enough to filter obvious spam, but not too strong to delete desired messages. And they must be tweaked often by the individual to adjust for personal choice. Most of them require you scan through the diverted junk from time to time looking for the valuable nugget that might otherwise get deleted.

I have worked with a few of these at both levels and none of them are perfect. They all let through some spam and they all detect valued messages as junk. A recent study indicated that nearly 1 in 5 messages blocked by ISP based filters is legitimate email! The software may improve over time, but the spammers, like virus makers, will continue look for ways to disguise their messages to fool the software. Still, some solutions are possible. Next week I will discuss some rather effective ways that you can deal with spam at your desktop and address what legal actions are in the works.