1.5 Types of Spam

Email vs. News Groups

The first time SPAM reared its ugly head was in news groups, originally the domain of more technically inclined folk. Parallel with the increase in the popularity of the internet, the problem has extended to electronic mail, and has become a thorn in the side of many a common internet user. The issues involved are somewhat distinct in the two mediums. It's one thing to find inappropriate posts on a newsgroup (what most are faced with are porn site advertisements, toner marketing ads, and other assorted nuisances,) quite another to be assaulted by unwelcome material in ones own electronic mailbox.

Chain Letters

The Internet has given a new lease on life to another dubious make-money-quick scheme: the chain letter. One of the first chain letter to circulate the world's newsgroups was sent by Dave Rhodes, a student at Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, Maryland. The letter was titled "MAKE MONEY FAST," and it was first sent in 1988. Copies are still showing up on servers today. Moreover, imitators have flooded Usenet with various versions of this illegal scam. It seems the net hasn't run out of suckers yet, nor is it likely to, any time soon. Such "attacks" have been understandably referred to by some as "text viruses." Not only are they illegal, patently immoral, they clog up news servers in the process, to boot (see Use-Wars).