In addition to wasting people's time with unwanted e-mail, spam also eats up a lot of network bandwidth. Consequently, there are many organizations, as well as individuals, who have taken it upon themselves to fight spam with a variety of techniques. But because the Internet is public, there is really little that can be done to prevent spam, just as it is impossible to prevent junk mail. However, some private online service, such America Online, have instituted policies to prevent spammers from spamming their subscribers.
There is some debate about the source of the term, but the generally accepted
version is that it comes from the Monty Python song,
"Spam spam spam spam, spam spam spam spam, lovely spam, wonderful spam…" Like
the song, spam is an endless repetition of worthless text.
ROKSO Home Page
Database of known spammers who have repeatedly violated ISP's
anti-spam regulations.
Fight Spam on the Internet!
Comprehensive collection of anti-spam links and resources.
Eye
on Spam
Powerful weapons have emerged in the war against spam, so why
isn't the problem going away? A 2002 Datamation article.
Spamming Resources
Internet Society's resource page for information about spamming.
Yahoo!'s
Spam Wars page
Yahoo!'s spam wars page. Contains a list of recent news items.
The Net
Abuse FAQ
Provides numerous links to net abuse resources and also contains
many questions and answers on spam.
ZDNet's
Online Privacy Guide
Collection of tips for e-mail
and browser security, as well as sections on eliminating security fears, a spam
cookbook and discussion forum.
Internet Mail Consortium
Group dedicated to solving the unsolicitied bulk email (UBE)
problem.
The Spamhouse Project
An organization that works with
ISPs to identify and remove spammers from the Internet.
The Historical Spam
Museum and Archive
The mission of this site is
to collect and preserve spam and includes many sample spam messages, as well
as links to several useful spam resources.
Spam FAQ
Provides information on deciphering spam e-mail message headers.