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Spam can be art
I hate opening my inbox, only to find out that someone called seexxx@bestdeal.com and 123_youwin@pills.com wants to sell or give me something. Who are these people, and why do they think I need this stuff? – I don’t.
So who are they? The spam in your inbox is most likely from one of the 200 small hardcore groups of professional spam gangs that stand for 80 percent of all generated spam. And these guys are probably really rich, since spam cost U.S organisations more than $10 billion per year, and because of the fact that 11 percent of US Internet users actually buy stuff from spam
The Register of Known Spam Operations (ROKSO) keeps track on the top spammers and you can read and see their images on the ROKSO’s website. These people are doing a great job!
I think it’s the fact that you can’t really get back at these guys that makes the whole thing so annoying. Although it is quite satisfying to see their mugshots (I truly hope people recognise them on the street).
If that’s not enough and you’re still feeling depressed over your inbox, then visit spamrecycling.com. It is a data visualisation engine (built with AJAX technology) that creates beautiful pictures from your messed up inbox. You can email your spam to spam@recycling.com and they’ll email you a link which allows you to watch as your spam mail is being recycled. This is definitely a therapeutic process and you’ll also get a beautiful artwork to impress your co-workers with.
Interesting stuff on spam, (also to impress your co-workers).
The term spam is derived from the Monty Python SPAM sketch, set in a cafe where nearly every item on the menu includes spam luncheon meat. The excessive amount of SPAM mentioned in the sketch is a reference to British rationing during World War II. SPAM was one of the few foods that was widely available.
Spammers can spell, but they misspell intentionally to avoid commonly-filtered words e.g. Viagra becomes V1agra
2006 - (June) 55 billion spam per day
The most common items advertised in spam messages are: Pornography site subscriptions, prescription drugs, purported sexual enhancement products and printer ink cartridges
