Spam, it’s what’s for dinner.

Spam, it’s what’s for dinner. I am sure you all know what spam is, but for those of you who do not, spam is not a fun experience. Basically, spam is an undesirable message that forces itself upon its recipients. Usually this message is a commercial advertisement and it is repeatedly distributed across the internet. Spamming can occur anywhere electronically, namely in e-mails and it dates back to 1978. There are various types of spam that aggravate people and an example in particular is chat room spamming. I was recently browsing around YouTube when I noticed in the comment section repeated posts of some message stating that if I did not post this message within 15 minutes I would have bad luck for ten years. I always disregard these kinds of messages because I recognize that it is spam. However there are some gullible and superstitious people out there who fall under the effects of these messages.
They’ve just been spammed.The point of all this is that spam has made a negative and fairly significant impact on the internet. E-mail was invented to make people’s lives easier. When people open up their inboxes to see this:
it makes their easy and enjoyable experience a pain because they have to decipher what is legitimate e-mail and what is not. Not only that, but they then have to delete the messages and consequently waste more time. Some people receive thousands of spam messages a day! Spam has forced people to develop programs that block these bothersome messages but unfortunately these programs are not always successful. I suppose it is safe to say that with every outstanding technological breakthrough, there are people right behind it ready to use it to their advantage (in this case, massive advertising). If anything, spam has taught people to be more careful when browsing and signing up for things on the internet. Viruses and spyware are often disguised in e-mail addresses we are not familiar with, i.e. spam. The following is a nightmarish example of what spyware can do to your internet browser. This picture would encourage anyone to be more careful with what they open and do on the internet. A relatively new form of spam that is invading people’s computers is screen spam as pictured here: People see these banners and ads so often that they have become desensitized to this fairly new method of advertisement. I think it is safe to say that no one cares or wants to click on the ad. On the other hand, website owners can generate a lot of money by having these ads because companies pay them every time that web site is accessed. This means society will probably not see a disappearance of these web ads anytime soon. Spam is but one nuisance when it comes to the internet, but with a little education and smart navigation skills, people can live their lives spam free.

Spam (electronic). Retrieved January 25, 2007, from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_%28electronic%29

Google Image Search (spam, shocked, spyware). Retrieved January 25, 2007, from Google Image Search. Website: http://images.google.com/imghp?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wi&q=