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Spam, A Lot

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Sorry, I couldn't resist the Monty Python reference.  It recently occurred to me that someone decided to name the bombing of Internet viewers with meaningless drivel after a potted meat product. So, those of you who like Spam may find yourselves a little put out, for which I am sorry.  It's your right to like Spam, and no one has the right to associate your meat product with the obnoxious practice of sending unsolicited, indiscriminate and unwanted bulk messages to unsuspecting online readers.

There.  That resolves that issue, I think.  Here's another one.  Why do spammers still exist?  Even the fact that it's easy to do and difficult to prevent does not explain why this tactic is still used to get attention.   By conservative estimate, about 80-85% of all email in the world is spam and over 500 million spam IMs (spims) are sent each year.   So, if everybody hates it and blocks it, why does it continue to plague us like a swarm of locusts?

A 2008 paper, published by researchers at UC Berkeley, revealed something interesting about spam.  Even accounting for the costs involved in spamming - paying software engineers, buying and maintaining servers, etc.- spam generates millions of dollars each year for its perpetrators.  By duplicating spammer techniques, the researchers were able to generate almost $4 million in revenue in one year.  Guys who had no experience, operating on a small scale.

Imagine what kind of money professional spammers are bringing in.  So, what was the question?  Oh, yes.  Why does spam continue to plague us like a...  oh. 

Spam generates revenue and lots of it.  And, as long as it continues to do so, it will continue to fill our email boxes, take up valuable space on the Internet, waste our time when we are tricked into clicking on it, and be a nuisance in general.

So, while all of you enablers who click through and purchase products from spammers are wondering why your email box is full of junk, the rest of us will be busy doing the kind of stuff that makes the world a better place, like eating Spam, watching Monty Python movies and dreaming of the day when spammers and their minions start putting their talents to better use.

I've got an idea.  You guys are clever- why don't you go cure cancer or something?