How the Spam Industry is Sustained

mOoZik writes "The BBC has an interesting article about spam and why it's still around. According to a survey, nearly 1/3 of users have clicked on spam messages and 1/10 have bought products advertised therein. "If no-one responded to junk e-mail and didn't buy products sold in this way, then spam would be as extinct as the dinosaurs.""

Comments

1 out of 10?!

[geminidomino]

Ok, I have to know who these guys were surveying, because I'm inclined to think it was the population of a mental institution.

I really have to disagree with TFA on this one. I don't think it's "bad email behavior" keeping spam alive (viruses are a different matter, but lumped in together).

It's the stupid and unethical businesses who will pay a spammer $100 for a 200,000 user spam blast. The spammer doesn't give a rat's posterior whether or not the victim buys or clicks. All he cares about is not getting bounced. Then he gets paid.

Oh, there's an easy way...

[bitkid]

to educate users. If somebody signs up for a free-mail account (could work for ISPs in general as well), they are automatically send a couple of fake spams. If any link in the spam-emails is clicked, the account of the user will be closed (with an educational warning message). That will teach them...

Credit: Some MS guy I talked to. Unfortunately Hotmail-management was kinda opposed to that idea...

Re:Most users just aren't very smart

[ThogScully]

I think the fact is that most people really don't care that much. They just accept spam the same way they accept junk snail-mail.

So they throw it out? That doesn't sound like what you're saying, but that's what people do with junk mail. This article is about people paying attention to it instead just because it's online.
-N