'Spam' Likely to Clutter E-Mail for Some Time
We all hate it, but it must be working for someone, because it doesn't look as if spam will be going the way of the dinosaur any time soon.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sick of being inundated with get-rich-quick schemes and Viagra ads in your e-mail? Well, get used to it because, despite concerted efforts to fight it, "spam" is expected to get worse before it gets better, analysts say.
The average American will get more than 2,200 spam, or unsolicited bulk e-mail, messages this year and 3,600 by 2007, Jupiter Research forecasts.
"It's getting easier to send spam messages. You can buy a CD-ROM with millions of e-mail addresses for next to nothing and send it out for next to nothing," said Jared Blank, senior analyst at Jupiter.
Spammers continue to come up with new and ingenious ways to bypass filters by misspelling words, sending e-mails from what appears to be yourself and putting messages in the subject lines that make people think the mail is from a friend.
While I detest spam, and think those who send it should have the flesh stripped from their bones, I can understand the thinking behind it. If you send out two million emails, and you get 20 sales out of the deal, was it a success? Hell, yes....
What I cannot understand is the number of spam e-mails I get in Japanese. If I can't read it, how am I going to be persuaded to increase my breast size??
