The History of SPAM: The Once and Future Pain-in-the-Neck
by Greg Crandell
DigitalMailer, in case you were wondering, provides services to companies that have a lot of email to send to a lot of people. We have to deal with SPAM issues all the time because what we're selling is NOT SPAM. We're selling the ability to communicate with the people that use your business every day through the service they use every day. We're NOT selling the ability to annoy people with offers of pills and tonics and cheap software and spyware and things that I don't even want to mention.
Picture a man selling apples from an apple cart. Everyone eats his apples - they're delicious, they're healthy, and they're not expensive. Then, one day, a second man parks his apple cart down the street and starts selling apples of his own. The difference? That guy's apples are full of worms. Thousands and millions of wiggly, terrible worms. Big, green, slimy worms that fall on the ground in loud *plops* when you cut into the apple. The second guy just laughs knowing everyone hates his wormy apples because he also knows he's ruined business for the first guy with the non-wormy apples. One bad apple ruins the bunch, and in the online services game there are about forty "wormy apples" for every "good apple".
Long story short: I HATE SPAM.
So this story from the Washington Post was sweet, sweet music to my ears (click here to read). McColo, the web host that's been a mighty fortress to all kinds of companies selling cheap Canadian mood stabilizers, has been shut down for all kinds of violations. McColo was essentially the Web's "red light district", offering all kinds of unsavory mess to people who just wanted to read their email.
And when they got shut down, the article goes on to say, SPAM all over the world started to disappear. An excerpt from the article:
Why a victory? Well, for one, people can breathe a little easier knowing that whatever mail they get they asked to get. Two, this makes email a place to communicate again, instead of just a chore to take care of at work. And doesn't it make you feel good when you open your mailbox and your SPAM folder says "0 messages"?
It's nice to know that, sometimes, people get what's coming to them. After polluting the web with message after message of nothing useful, McColo is out of the game.
Which is good for us. And bad for the future.
SPAM is like a horror movie villain...just ask Rich Koman at ZDnet (click here to read). Every time you think they're dead...BOO! Sequel. But in the sequel they kill it for good...BOO! Trilogy. Pretty soon it's "Nightmare on SPAM street XVII: This time it's about Botox!"
And for every McColo knocked down, there's someone new setting up. There's some new corner of the Internet yet to be uncovered. There's a place in Europe where nobody asks questions.
But we take a victory when we can get it. And how can you make SPAM history?
Let's walk through this in a simple way:
DigitalMailer, in case you were wondering, provides services to companies that have a lot of email to send to a lot of people. We have to deal with SPAM issues all the time because what we're selling is NOT SPAM. We're selling the ability to communicate with the people that use your business every day through the service they use every day. We're NOT selling the ability to annoy people with offers of pills and tonics and cheap software and spyware and things that I don't even want to mention.
Picture a man selling apples from an apple cart. Everyone eats his apples - they're delicious, they're healthy, and they're not expensive. Then, one day, a second man parks his apple cart down the street and starts selling apples of his own. The difference? That guy's apples are full of worms. Thousands and millions of wiggly, terrible worms. Big, green, slimy worms that fall on the ground in loud *plops* when you cut into the apple. The second guy just laughs knowing everyone hates his wormy apples because he also knows he's ruined business for the first guy with the non-wormy apples. One bad apple ruins the bunch, and in the online services game there are about forty "wormy apples" for every "good apple".
Long story short: I HATE SPAM.
So this story from the Washington Post was sweet, sweet music to my ears (click here to read). McColo, the web host that's been a mighty fortress to all kinds of companies selling cheap Canadian mood stabilizers, has been shut down for all kinds of violations. McColo was essentially the Web's "red light district", offering all kinds of unsavory mess to people who just wanted to read their email.
And when they got shut down, the article goes on to say, SPAM all over the world started to disappear. An excerpt from the article:
"Immediately after McColo was unplugged, security companies charted a precipitous drop in spam volumes worldwide. E-mail security firm IronPort said spam levels fell by roughly 66 percent as of Tuesday evening." - Brian Krebs for WaPoAhh, sweet victory.
Why a victory? Well, for one, people can breathe a little easier knowing that whatever mail they get they asked to get. Two, this makes email a place to communicate again, instead of just a chore to take care of at work. And doesn't it make you feel good when you open your mailbox and your SPAM folder says "0 messages"?
It's nice to know that, sometimes, people get what's coming to them. After polluting the web with message after message of nothing useful, McColo is out of the game.
Which is good for us. And bad for the future.
SPAM is like a horror movie villain...just ask Rich Koman at ZDnet (click here to read). Every time you think they're dead...BOO! Sequel. But in the sequel they kill it for good...BOO! Trilogy. Pretty soon it's "Nightmare on SPAM street XVII: This time it's about Botox!"
And for every McColo knocked down, there's someone new setting up. There's some new corner of the Internet yet to be uncovered. There's a place in Europe where nobody asks questions.
But we take a victory when we can get it. And how can you make SPAM history?
Let's walk through this in a simple way:
- Know what's SPAM and what isn't - As we've said before, SPAM is email you get when you have no pre-existing relationship with the sender. If you gave your email address to a guy at GAP in the mall, you might get an email with GAP coupons. He's got a right to send you email because you have a relationship with him. If you don't want to get more emails, he has to provide a link on the email he sent you with unsubscribe information. Click that link and follow the steps. If he fails to hold up his end and provide you with a way to unsubscribe, THEN you can start the ruckus. But don't mark a business email as SPAM just because you've had a bad day. Going back to our apple analogy: If you want an apple, buy an apple. Learn the apple guy's name, fine, he's happy and your happy. But if he gives you an apple you don't want, feel free to hand it back to him and not spend any money. Don't just throw it in the street (i.e., trash folder) and CERTAINLY don't cry worm (SPAM) if there is none.
- Protect yourself - More and more email clients are coming with spam catchers these days. Find one that has a working SPAM protocol and stick with it. See, too, if you can forward in your other emails from other accounts and make life easy.
- If something is SPAM, report it...especially if it's illegal - One of the things that got McColo in trouble was the fact that they were hosting child pornography on their servers. If someone sends you something illegal, report them to the proper authorities. Your small act of outrage might shut down another company like McColo and put an end to vile criminal acts.
posted by DigitalMailer, Inc. at
8:13 AM
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