SEC Lifts Ax For Minnesota Stock-Price Spammer

thejuggler writes "A call to Samuel Meltzer's St. Paul home is greeted with the message that he doesn't want to be bothered by solicitations. But, this story in a Minneapolis newspaper tells how the Feds and SEC claim he is a huge spammer. They claim he sends out spam spreading false and misleading information about various penny stocks. So far he has made at least $159,600 in stock and cash from 1998-2001 for spreading this false information. In a brief interview Tuesday, Meltzer (The evil spammer), 37, said he hadn't seen the complaint. "This is a surprise," he added."

Comments

Heh.

[Black Parrot]

So a spammer doesn't want to be bothered by solicitations. You won't need to take your iron supplements today, folks! There's irony a-plenty here.

Re:Heh.

[Samari711]

sometimes i really wish there was a bad joke moderation option, like right now

Re:Heh.

[JPelorat]

"Do you know what irony is, Baldrick?"

"Yeah, my lord. It's like goldy and bronzy, only it's made of irony."

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition

[ConeFish]

We could rid ourselves of all these spammers if we just brought back the Spanish Inquisition.... although it seems as if the feds and SEC might already be getting their help....

Re:Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition

[govtcheez]

How do you know it's not coming? As you said - nobody expects the Spanish Inqusition!

Re:Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition

[Talonius]

Don't you mean..

..the Spammish Inquisition?

Bork! Bork! Bork!

Someone get his address?

[pfguy]

Think we can do to him what we did to the last spammer that caught media attention?

Snail spam to the rescue.

If he thinks that's a surprise

[Brandeissansoo]

Just wait until he tries to take a shower in prison.

Re:If he thinks that's a surprise

[azadism]

He'd better hope that no one there got the spam for Viagra

Re:If he thinks that's a surprise

[Snard]

News flash - Minnesota prisoner hospitalized after receiving enema of 20 cans of Hormel meat products. Film at 11.

Re:If he thinks that's a surprise

[IWantMoreSpamPlease]

If the film is at 11, would they show that horrible link that runs around here so often?

I shudder to think about it.

Re:If he thinks that's a surprise

[zbuffered]

Film at 11.

I find myself hoping that the censors are feeling conservative today.

Hello?

[Anonymous Coward]

"This is a surprise"

Guess he should start answering his phone...

Surprised it still works

[mugnyte]

This guy may well be mistaken identity, but if the allegations are true, he is surely in for a surprise. I don't know his state's laws, but let's hope they get in on the works.

I have given up communicating on stock boards mainly because of the nature of these kinds of posts - hype. But then again, I'm not sure what I was looking for in reading those boards anyway.

I hope the FCC gets this guy.

[inteller]

but if he only made that much money in the time said, that's not much better than a decently paid programmer. Is this guy really the big fish? how much money do the penis enlargers and 2 week MBA guys make?

Re:I hope the FCC gets this guy.

[mmol_6453]

I thought 2-week MBA's went out of style with the start of the recession. :)

Re:I hope the FCC gets this guy.

[LuxFX]

but the $159,600 was from the manipulation of the stock market, not from selling advertising. This is breaking federal law -- as opposed to typically spamming which, in the strictest sense, still isn't actually illegal.

Happened before (?)

[beef3k]

I seem to remember a TV show about a 16 year old that made a lot of money this way, i.e. buy a lot of cheap stock in some company, send out thousands of email tipping people off: "Watch this stock, it'll really roof in a week". Thousands of other buy the stock and the price on it goes up.

I think he got to keep 500k or something, the rest was taken away (by who I don't remember).

Re:Happened before (?)

[cybermace5]

I think he got to keep 500k or something, the rest was taken away (by who I don't remember).

Erm...the IRS?

Re:Happened before (?)

[Yosemite_Mark]

Yes, his name was Jonathan Lebed. See this article here He was never convicted, but did reach an agreement with the SEC and was fined about $285 K. The article states that his total profit from his dealings were over $800 K, so he did get to keep a huge chunk of his profits. Nice work if you can get it.

so this is the guy...

[simpl3x]

who faxes me all this crap about great stocks! each one has a different number to call to be removed from the various lists, so you can never effectively opt out. this is why we need a national opt in database! and, now he has a name... and an address... and a telephone number... i do wonder what lists his name will be entered on!

Evil Spammer

[Anonymous Coward]

Shouldn't that be the alleged evil spammer? Come on, even spammers are innocent until proven guilty.

Re:Evil Spammer

[elluzion]

Can we settle on "evil alleged evil spammer"?

Re:Evil Spammer

[Phroggy]

Shouldn't that be the alleged evil spammer? Come on, even spammers are innocent until proven guilty.

No, we called him evil, so that makes it OK. You should pay more attention to GW Bush.

Correction to Story

[doublem]

Alleged evil spammer

Let's not commit libel here. He may be innocent.

Of course if he IS a Spammer, I'd saw we draw and quarter him.

$159k

[nherc]

$159k over 3+ years isn't exactly a killing, especially for something he was spending a considerable amount of his time on (read: full time job).

Perhaps the lower and lower profit margains on this type of activity will eventually put an end to sonafabitches like this.

The two problems (which impact more than e-mail)

[Mdog]

(1) You (and I) get too much spam.

(2) Your e-mail system administrator (and mine) need to keep beefing up the servers because the sheer volume of e-mail is growing so quickly.

To a first approximations, filters solve (1) but not (2), and black hole lists solve (2).

whirlycott summarizes the problem with (2) in two words: "collateral damage." How much of the e-mail network do we need to destroy in order to save it?

We need to move past first approximations. We need systems that work at the server level, but that somehow address the problems of collateral damage and false positives.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. Any network messaging medium is vulnerable to abuse by spammers. The problem started with Netnews, it continued with e-mail, it's happening now with instant messaging. We need at least high level solution that helps solve the problem regardless of prototcol.

I wish I had one.

Fools and their money...

[Skyshadow]

This always struck me as such a weird crime.

I mean, who is stupid enough to make serious investment decisions based on unsolicited email? Is there something I'm missing here? Somebody explain this to me!

Re:Fools and their money...

[elluzion]

It doesn't take much.

We're talking about penny stock. So theoretically, if you could get even 50 people to make small purchases, that would up the amount of trading going on for that stock, which sets off alarms all over the world, with people who are monitoring penny stocks for movement. Remember, it's based on percentages. So you don't really see (unless you know what you're doing, which most folks don't) that the stock went from selling 5 shares a day to selling 50 shares a day. You see that it went up 1000%.

So then all those people jump on it, looking to invest pennies and ride a short spike and then dump it. Probably doubling their money at least. Going from 1 cent to 2 cents, or 2 to 4 or 3 to 6, etc isn't hard, and that is technically doubling your money.

So what happens is a few people make dumb decisions, a bunch of other people think those few people know something special, so they jump on it and so on. Before you know it you have a thousand people pumping money into a wothless stock. By the time everyone realizes what a dog they've bought, it's too late. They've already paid 40 cents for a 2 cent stock. Then a massive sell-off happens, which drives the stock into the dirt again, making it even more wothless.

Of course, this asshole had already bought a ton of it beforehand for pennies, then spent the whole time selling it to the newcommers for huge profit. I'm not sure if it's illegal, but it should be.

Spanish!

[simpl3x]

being spanish i can finally claim my very own cultural activity! hey the irish have their parades and drinking...! i want an inquisition, and i want it now!

Stock Tip: McDonalds sucks.

[$$$$$exyGal]

Everyone should sell their McDonalds stock immediately! The stock is going down down down. Only suckers would keep it. They are being sued left and right, and it's only gonna get worse. Plus the fact that their restaurants are grimy, and they are slow, and their prices are kept artificially low (read Fast Food Nation).

Now, is the SEC gonna come and get me? What if I'm selling short?

--sex

It's called a pump and dump scam.

[gpinzone]

Just because he used email instead of cold calling little old ladies in a rest home, this makes it "news for nerds?"

Did he at least use Linux to send out the spam? Come on, give us some reason to care about this article.

Pink Sheets & dormant shells

[scoove]

While it's nice to see the "don't bug us, we're woefully underpaid and overworked" SEC finally going after one of these parasites, it's too bad they have to get geeked out about the whole spam bit to do so. That's only the tip of the iceberg on these pink sheet company abuses.

I got taken by a pink sheet bulletin board stock deal in the mid-90s. We put a good company and $15 million of local investor capital into what's called a dormant shell - a publically trading company that perhaps didn't make it in a former life, got kicked off of NASDAQ (or never made it), is probably late on SEC filings, and is operationally dormant. You can buy these things for a quarter million or so in Nevada, apparently.

The whole pitch is "you can go public for much less than an IPO, and get a publically trading stock which is much more liquid for your investors and allows you to get more investing money for less equity." The reality is that the shell's broker gets a credible asset in the shell to use for pump & dump.

The only problem is that every single one of them I've come across has had a controlling parasite "broker" in the middle - as was the one we encountered. The broker broke all the merger terms by refusing to hand over control of the company. He illegally siezed the company and the millions invested and looted it all. Ficticious board resolutions were used to change who could sign on the company bank accounts, etc. Offshore Bermuda accounts were used to funnel things to Swiss accounts - sounds hollywood, but it was very effective.

By the time the courts caught up with it all, the company was absent any cash or assets. The SEC's response? "Sorry - We have too many people doing this to be able to help you. Call your congressperson and ask them to increase our funding." Seriously.

Two years ago, I thought I found a company that had this background that wasn't a scam. WaveRider, a manufacturer of near-line of sight 900 MHz proprietary fixed wireless gear. Then I found the parasite, the Bermuda angle and the Swiss angle. It has since gone from $1/share to around $0.12. Like the best of these deals, the parasite retains competent management that really truly believes it has a chance. But they never do - not when legal control of the company is closely held by the parasite.

So... before you invest in a bulletin board stock, look for the parasite. Late on SEC filings? Run. See a Bermuda/Swiss connection? Run. Nevada corporation? Be very nervous. Read that 10K and 10Qs very, very closely.

Oh, and what ever happened to our parasite? He's still pushing his stocks and has avoided SEC and IRS enforcement for years. He's grown rather confident that he's untouchable and is probably right...

*scoove*

Re:Pink Sheets & dormant shells

[Tackhead]

> While it's nice to see the "don't bug us, we're woefully underpaid and overworked" SEC finally going after one of these parasites, it's too bad they have to get geeked out about the whole spam bit to do so.

Your point about this particular pump-and-dump being the tip of an iceberk of OTCBB "pink sheet" abuse is well-made.

From where I sit, the sad part is that the SEC generally isn't geeked out about spam. It comes down to resources.

I mean, anyone can Google for meltzer stock spammer and find piles of stuff.

A cursory reading of ROKSO reveals this particular ring has a record going back to 1997, including death threats. (Cripes, this is the ETMP spammer from 199teyfucking7!)

Why the hell does it take SIX GODDAMN YEARS to take down one pump-and-dump dirtball?

And he's just one of dozens.

Stock fraud continues because justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.

A six-year delay between the start of the scam and the SEC finally issuing a "Stop breaking the law, or we'll make you sign a consent decree wherein you don't admit to guilt but promise not to break the law in the future" is unacceptable.

It's unacceptable because it's not just useless - it's worse than useless - it's practically an invitation to dirtballs from around the world to get into the fraud business, because by the time the SEC actually catches onto the scam, the scammed money has either left the country or has been laundered.

If anyone from HomeSec is reading this - hook up with some SEC folks. Fund them. Fund the hell out of them. Because if even a tenth of the pump-and-dump scams are being used for money laundering (as opposed to mere fraud), you've got one hell of a conduit for drug money and/or terror money, and the SEC's Enforcement Division as currently set up, clearly doesn't have the resources to stop it.

My nose rankles at my use of the word "mere" to describe stock fraud - but it's a reflection of reality, which is that the government doesn't give a fuck about "mere" fraud, because it's only the serfs getting ripped off, and the dumb serfs at that. So to hell with the serfs. It's no excuse for being blind to the the opportunity for money laundering (perhaps more precisely, the opportunity to camouflage money laundering) brought on by continual, ongoing pump-and-dump stock fraud operations. And honestly, maybe that is more HomeSec's bailiwick than the SEC's. But the two organizations definitely need to start sharing data, and they need to start now.

Re:Pink Sheets & dormant shells

[Tackhead]

> But, there must be some way to benefit indirectly from someone else's pump-and-dump operation. When you receive spam about a fresh company, you could buy in quickly and then unload it after a certain period of time before the 'dump' phase kicks in.

Actually, that's much easier said than done. It sounds great on paper - and like all "easy money" ideas, it really only serves the interest of the stock scammer.

The reason this sort of fraud is concentrated in the pink sheets is due to the relative illiquidity of penny stocks.

In a liquid market (say, Microsft - MSFT) millions of shares change hands each day, and hundreds (if not thousands) of people are willing to sell you their stock.

In an illiquid market, there may only be a handful of participants. The only seller, for instance, is likely to be the "pumper" - because he's already accumulated the stock at a steep discount.

So - your "buy in quickly" part - doesn't work, because you're buying from the scammer. If the stock's at $0.05, the scammer might sell you 1000 shares at $0.06, and another 1000 at $0.07. He's not likely to sell you 1,000,000 at $0.08 - because he'd rather find some poor sucker willing to buy 1000 at $0.09 - so he can sell (you!) his 1,000,000 at $0.10.

Your "and then unload it" part also fails in an illiquid market. You're not going to be sold much stock unless you pay far more than it's worth. And if you've got lots of stock, to whom are you going to sell it? Once the pumper dumps you his 1,000,000 shares at $0.10, he's out of the market, and certainly isn't going to be buying from you at $0.11. Or $0.10.

You're now the proud owner of 1,000,000 shares of worthless stock. You might sell some of it to stragglers to the game at $0.11, but the pump and dump is done - you're left holding the bag. When the buyers go away (the spammer isn't going to send out another load of emails to encourage anyone else to buy it!), the bid/ask spread widens up, and you're left holding the bag.

A few months later, you see someone bidding $0.04 for 900,000 shares, and now that you've been had, you realize that's better than nothing. That's the scammer, buying the stock back for the next round.

Remember - if you're sitting at a poker table and you don't know who the sucker is, it's you.

The problem with spammers...

[Shamashmuddamiq]

...is that they make a life out of deception and lies. They consider themselves "good people" (and they really believe that). I'm sure if you look into this guy's financial history, you'll find lots of problems: bankruptcy, maxed out credit cards, unpaid loans, etc.

If you bring any moral charges against him, it will be like talking to a brick wall. He's already rationalized it all away in his own mind. Even though he will often bring the very same moral charges against other people, he will defend (or deny) his own actions down to the last detail.

It's called "hypocrisy". We all do it. However, when this guy does it, it's just a little more annoying.

Let me get this straight

[Virtex]

They claim he sends out spam spreading false and misleading information about various penny stocks.

You mean to tell me that somebody's sending out spam with false and misleading information? Oh, come on now! Surely you're not serious! Next you'll be telling me that people are sending out spam with faked return addresses.

Only in court

[crow]

Only in court are you innocent until proven guilty. In the media, your innocence or guilt is determined by whatever sounds best. Sure, the media often tosses in "alleged" in every-other sentence as insurance against lawsuits, but everyone knows that when the media uses the word, "alleged," they mean "guilty but not yet convicted in court."

Nothing like trial by media.

[WankersRevenge]

Slashdot looks to join the crowd

Re:fair use for dummies

[kaltkalt]

is this posted in the wrong thread, or are you trying to hint that fair use protects people from securities fraud? I hope it's not the latter, because that would be one of the single dumbest things I have ever heard in my life.

Meltzer has a long history...

[meringuoid]

Here is the record of nanae discussions involving him. Here he is on ROKSO, the spamhaus.org register of known spam operations. The long-running pump-n-dump spammer. He finally got nailed, eh? Good! And we've already done Ralsky. Now for the diploma guy...

Another culprit

[mao che minh]

"The SEC labeled him a "professional Internet spammer."

They might also want to take a look at Britney_caught_xXx_HOTHOTHOT@hotmail.com as well. This young woman has cunningly persuaded me ( weilding the lure of false information and promises) to spend at least $8,550 on internnet "entertainment" between 1999 and the present. I demand that action be taken.

Re:eh?

[Drachemorder]

"Some alias' are as follows: MELTzURISGOD, H4X0Rd00d, MNGUY2000, CWBYNL, ..."

You forgot "fhqwhgads".

In keeping with the previous article...

[Shadow Wrought]

If you complain about Spam on an airliner, will you get reported to the Homeland Security types?

This is the best spam control

[swb]

The best spam control isn't new laws about who can send mail or newer and fancier statistical analysis filters, it's vigorous and severe punishment for the fraudulent schemes/products pushed through email.

Even if you passed a law that said "No spamming" the people running spam servers or doing bulk emailing would still be nearly impossible to catch since they can be hijacking open relays or using false-name disposable mail servers.

But ALL of the spam ultimately has a 'reachable' person there to collect the money, and that provides the perfect means to catch the PEOPLE invovled.

If the fraud merchants behind these schemes began to get indicted and convicted with a visible public frequency, it might start to have a real impact on spam. It wouldn't be a 100% perfect solution, but it would stave off needless government regulation of email which 'spam' laws would need to be effective and it might scare off a big chunk of the amateurs and part-timers trying to run their own solo operations.

I'd love to see that spam bitch from Florida that was on Slashdot a few months ago lose that house, the SUV and all the other goodies she has as she tries to ward off a federal wire fraud investigation. I know she was just acting as an advertising service, but isn't aiding and abetting illegal too?

It would be a shame

[SquadBoy]

if someone were to link to documents that have his address in them.

http://www.wa.gov/ago/pubs/ChippynetComplaintfor Re lief.pdf

Re:It would be a shame

[SquadBoy]

and as an html

http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache:FQ-XxYG7rUg C: www.wa.gov/ago/pubs/ChippynetComplaintforRelief.pd f+adam+meltzer+saint+paul&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Gee, I'm glad they're prosecuting serious frauds..

[Alea]

I mean... $159,600... wow, no wonder the U.S. economy is down the tubes. It's great that SEC has plenty of time to fry these gnats and beat the war drums, showing they're doing their jobs, so they don't have to go after the multi-billion dollar scam people like Enron, WorldCom, and all the others that have covered their tracks by now.

Spam bugs me as much a next person, but if this is biggest fish they're going to catch that way, I'm sure all those investors and pension plan holders would rather the guns were turned on some more worthy target.

It's amazing how well the war hysteria has worked at smoothing over the corporate scandals. And now spam too...

As the adage goes. . .

[kfg]

A fool and his money were lucky to get together in the first place.

In a world where there are actually people who make investment decisions based on newspaper astrology columns and mortgage their homes to buy lottery tickets ( so that they're sure to win) nothing surprises me very much.

The fact of the matter is that most people aren't very bright. Get used to it. The world is populated by most people.

KFG

Now now, we should do this scientifically

[cgenman]

Sir Bedevere: Tell me. What do you do with spammers?
Peasant 1: quarter them!
Sir Bedevere: And what do you quarter, apart from spammers?
Peasant 1: More spammers!
Peasant 2: Videogames!
Sir Bedevere: Correct. Now, why do spammers quarter?
Peasant 3: ...because they're... Videogames?
Sir Bedevere: Good. So how do you tell whether he is a Videogame?
Peasant 1: Dominate Japan with him!
Sir Bedevere: But don't we also dominate Japan with excessively cute rodentia iconography?
Peasant 1: Oh yeah.
Sir Bedevere: Now, do videogames withstand a slashdotting?
Peasant 1: No, no... Throw him to the Trolls!
Sir Bedevere: No, no. What else does not withstand a slashdotting?
Peasant 1: Apples!
Peasant 2: IIS!
Peasant 3: Very small rocks!
Peasant 2: Debian! KDE Mirrors for minor upgrades!
Peasant 1: Mindstorms Segway Scooters!
Peasant 2: Beers cooled by Jet Engine exhaust!
Peasant 3: Matrix Movies!
Peasant 2: The RIAA!
Peasant 3: Churches! Churches!

King Taco: Atari 800s!

All Peasants: Ooooooooo....
Sir Bedevere: Exactly! So logically...
Peasant 1: If... he... computes as fast as... an Atari 800... he's a videogame.
Sir Bedevere: And therefore?
Peasant 1: ... A spammer!
Peasant 2: A Spammer!
crowd: A Spammer! A Spammer!

Bedevere: Who are you who are so wise in the ways of mob logic?
King Taco: I am CmdrTaco, King of the Geekins.
Bedevere: My liege!

Him not being aware may be typical of SEC invest..

[Jackson Five]

I've been on the more pleasant side (if there is one) of SEC investigations, and one thing they do which is kind of cool is investigate everyone around the person first - particularly in insider trading.....then when they've compiled the data, they contact the potential guilty party - for example, I work in Mergers & Acquisitions and we represented a public company in a sale. SEC investigated some trades right around the announcement - and first asked for a list of people at my company that knew about the deal...they then sent us lists of people - ie, do you know any of these people...without any other info.

So maybe this guy will still get it. These guys piss me off - primarily because they are capitalizing on ignornace - it's no different then a cheap con.

Re:The two problems (which impact more than e-mail

[dacarr]

I think the only "real" solution would be to IDP the places that are known for being effective spamhausen. You know, failing to recognize them at the router level.

That there are mail servers bouncing mail from *.cn and *.br is a start, but think of it, what if the 'net at large just said that these people don't exist? It's true that it blocks the innocent users as well, but think of the domino effect: innocent users on foobar.com.br can't read google, bitches at sysadmin, threatens attrition (or just simply votes with his feet and moves to foobaz.com.br). Management sees bottom line, asks why, sysadmins say people are moving off because they can't talk to the 'net through them. Management *theoretically* investigates why and determines the reason they are no longer on the 'net is because they let a spammer sign a pink contract with them and people gave him the Internet Death Penalty.

So yeah, it's a nasty way to go, but it closes another door and tells the rogue admins that we ain't gonna take it no more.

jonathan lebed

[circletimessquare]

jonathan lebed

anyone remember this kid?

read the new york times magazine article i linked to if you aren't familiar with his story. it absolutely floored me. great story.

15 years old, made at least $250,000 in six months

the amazing thing about this kid is he settled with the SEC... they BACKED OFF prosecuting him because at the time, shortly before the stock bubble burst a few years ago, his lawyer was ready to make an issue of the illegality of what he was doing... inflating stock prices through hype.

the problem? think about it: what was going on at the time via PROFESSIONAL stock info outlets?

same damn thing

makes you think, doesn't it?

made the SEC think at least, they backed off, so the kid actually cleared some profit (a small percentage of whatever he actually made... no one knows for sure, but not bad for a 15 year old)

amazing!

jonathan lebed: if you're at some university today, lurking on slashdot, my hats off to you for staring down the whole damn SEC ;-P

Watch the movie

[gearheadsmp]

Boiler Room and you'll get a good idea of how penny stock scams work.

This is much worse than that

[SysKoll]

I don't think you accurately measure the damage this guy has done. He made $160k. Not much on the Enron/Worldcom Pimping Scale (TM), I agree. But in order for him to make a buck, a certain stock has to be pumped up with the hard-won cash of countless small investors. These people collectively lost much more than $160k when the bastard dumped the stocks.

It's not a zero-sum game. Like most other criminal activity, each dollar of illicit profit is actually creating tens of dollars of damage. So we're talking millions of destroyed wealth here.

Also, don't forget that countless other shitbags would be thinking twice before attempting pump-and-dump schemes now thanks to this deterring case.

Be thankful to the SEC that they finally condescend to catch the kind of miserable bastards that defraud the small people, instead of devoting all its time licking the wounds of multi-billion investors.

-- SysKoll

Re:This is much worse than that

[Alea]

You make a very good point about the magnitude of the loss vs. the spammer's gain.

But the same argument applies to the Enron collapse. The tens and hundreds of millions that the executives walked away represents not only the loss of some big time investors, but countless small investors (several in the company itself who were encouraged to hold stock by the people robbing them) and many pension plans, which are really just another form of 'small investment'. I doubt the cost to the little guy from this spammer vs. any one of those execs really is comparable.

However, it is probably true that this remedy will have more impact on the other spammers then any Enron-level punishment will have on the other corrupt executives. The former expose themselves by the very nature of their scam. The latter will simply become more careful.

Also consider that the victims in the spammer's case are foolish to trust a random guy on the net who told them to buy something. The victims in the Enron case were, reasonably enough, placing trust in company and investment house reports, auditors, and legislation which the SEC is supposed to keep clean!

Well then, let's make public the RIGHT analogy!

[uptownguy]

This is only the tip of the iceberg. Any network messaging medium is vulnerable to abuse by spammers. The problem started with Netnews, it continued with e-mail, it's happening now with instant messaging. We need at least high level solution that helps solve the problem regardless of prototcol.

So, how do you get the word to motivate people to act on this mushrooming problem? One way that I can think of is by giving them a new way to think about it. Relate it to something that they understand...

Spam is not junk mail.

Spam is litter on the information superhighway.

Its trash. Pure and simple trash that gets in the way of people communicating with each other. And pretty soon this garbage will be everywhere. On the sides of roads, in the streets, in our driveways. We won't be able to go anywhere because of this TRASH.

Besides...your POSTAL MAILBOX isn't about communication anymore. The only kinds of mail you get in your postal mailbox are BILLS and your MAGAZINES and NEWSLETTERS and CATALOGS. Come on, does anyone send US mail now except for at the holidays? Or to grandma? Except, heck, Grannie's on AOL now, too.

That's what the word SPAM was coined for. (The history of the word is a different topic for a different (overly rehashed) post.) But the fact was, a new word was needed and SPAM arrived to fill the need: To let people know that this wasn't regular junk mail. Pretty much ALL postal mail (besides checks) is junk mail, anyway...

But SPAM is too soft. Too cuddly. SPAM doesn't convey the sense of urgency that is needed...

I think it would be effective if people started calling it for what it is: Trash, Garbage ...and most of all...

Pollution!

But spam is *so* great.

[almaw]

After all, if I didn't buy stuff from all the e-mails I received, I wouldn't have this pair of 36DD breasts! I just love kicking around in my cheaply-re-mortgaged home not having a clue what to do with my 24" penis...