[R-390] R-390

[mikea]

On Thu, Jan 10, 2002 at 11:52:32AM -0500, Al Solway wrote:
> Hi Barry and All,
> 
> Please excuse the ignorance, but I would like to know what a Spam is. In
> simple terms please for a simple person.

That's an area where I have more expertise than I want to have.
I used to run the abuse desk at a backbone provider; we handled
all the complaints. Too many of them. 

Here at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, a major part
of my job is fighting spam. 

Spam is generally defined as Unsolicited Bulk (or Commercial)
E-mail. I prefer the bulk version of the definition, since it
includes unsolicited mail from political parties and candidates, 
religious organizations, and the like. Spam is content-neutral:
it's not that you don't want to get porn ads or make money fast
newsletters or whatever; it's that you don't want people using
your resources, which you pay for, to do their advertising.

Everyone has seen one of the "Five Reports" or "Make Money Fast"
letters that constitute somewhere around 30% (yes, three bytes
out of every ten) of the traffic on the internet. That's one form
of spam; there are others. 

A good start on learning more about this issue, which is a real
danger to the viability of the entire Internet[1], is available
at <http://www.mail-abuse.org>, where I used to work. There also
is a Usenet newsgroup, news.admin.net-abuse.email, which deals 
with spam killing, and another, news.admin.net-abuse.sightings,
which deals with the actual spam that people receive, where it 
comes from, and the like. CAUTION: The S/N ratio on these groups
often is rather poor.

Questions? Really. Ask them -- on the list, please, so everyone
sees the question; I'll reply to them on-list as well. 

-- 
Mike Andrews
mikea@mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin since 1964