Comments on: Is spam a matter of supply and demand? http://thenextweb.com/2008/08/20/is-spam-a-matter-of-supply-and-demand/ International technology news, business & culture Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:31:22 +0100 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Let a thousand spam messages blossom http://thenextweb.com/2008/08/20/is-spam-a-matter-of-supply-and-demand/#comment-365849 Let a thousand spam messages blossom Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:31:19 +0000 http://thenextweb.org/?p=3483#comment-365849 [...] isn’t good for anything (which would be true enough if it weren’t for the fact that so many people actually respond to it), so they decided that they could take something bad and make it into something good. That [...] [...] isn’t good for anything (which would be true enough if it weren’t for the fact that so many people actually respond to it), so they decided that they could take something bad and make it into something good. That [...]

]]> By: Bob Boynton http://thenextweb.com/2008/08/20/is-spam-a-matter-of-supply-and-demand/#comment-365848 Bob Boynton Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:34:46 +0000 http://thenextweb.org/?p=3483#comment-365848 When politicians raised campaign funds and had to go through the U.S. mails the cost of raising a dollar was ninety-five cents. For each dollar raised the politician got five cents to spend on the campaign. Health insurance, life insurance, etc. more that half the money collected goes into the cost of selling the insurance. Why do we have spam. One answer is the one given here in this post. Another is the cost of spam is incredibly small. The return is surely better than on either of my two examples because the cost of email, etc. is so low. The cost has been transferred to me. I have to sift through it and hit the delete button. Since my time is not free I am paying a considerable cost so that spammers can make their fortunes. How could we raise the cost? What if every email that I rejected cost whoever had sent it? Surely there are programmers smart enough to figure out how to do that. When politicians raised campaign funds and had to go through the U.S. mails the cost of raising a dollar was ninety-five cents. For each dollar raised the politician got five cents to spend on the campaign.

Health insurance, life insurance, etc. more that half the money collected goes into the cost of selling the insurance.

Why do we have spam. One answer is the one given here in this post. Another is the cost of spam is incredibly small. The return is surely better than on either of my two examples because the cost of email, etc. is so low.

The cost has been transferred to me. I have to sift through it and hit the delete button. Since my time is not free I am paying a considerable cost so that spammers can make their fortunes.

How could we raise the cost? What if every email that I rejected cost whoever had sent it? Surely there are programmers smart enough to figure out how to do that.

]]> By: More consumer first talk. « Tom Altman’s Wedia Conversation http://thenextweb.com/2008/08/20/is-spam-a-matter-of-supply-and-demand/#comment-365847 More consumer first talk. « Tom Altman’s Wedia Conversation Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:33:42 +0000 http://thenextweb.org/?p=3483#comment-365847 [...] Is spam a matter of supply and demand? [...] [...] Is spam a matter of supply and demand? [...]

]]> By: Dan Field http://thenextweb.com/2008/08/20/is-spam-a-matter-of-supply-and-demand/#comment-365846 Dan Field Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:28:30 +0000 http://thenextweb.org/?p=3483#comment-365846 Interesting blog. We too have seen a massive increase in spam emails being sent out. Our recent quarterly review of spam has shown a massive 4x increase in the amount of spam being sent out since the start of the year (See: http://www.clearmymail.com/SpamIndex ). The types of spam are getting more dangerous with a big increase in the number of Phishing emails being sent out, with the aim of defrauding people. To "fund" this massive increase the spammers are also sending out more virus emails, infecting PC's around the world which can then be used as "Bot-net" to send out more spam! Recent virus emails include one titled "Journalists shot in Georgia", playing on the recent troubles between Russia and Georgia (More at: http://www.clearmymail.com/press/journalists_shot_in_georgia_virus_spam_email.aspx) So yes, the amount of spam is increasing faster than ever... and its getting more dangerous too, but at the end of the day if people didn't buy from spam - it wouldn't exist! Interesting blog. We too have seen a massive increase in spam emails being sent out.

Our recent quarterly review of spam has shown a massive 4x increase in the amount of spam being sent out since the start of the year (See: http://www.clearmymail.com/SpamIndex ).

The types of spam are getting more dangerous with a big increase in the number of Phishing emails being sent out, with the aim of defrauding people.

To “fund” this massive increase the spammers are also sending out more virus emails, infecting PC’s around the world which can then be used as “Bot-net” to send out more spam!

Recent virus emails include one titled “Journalists shot in Georgia”, playing on the recent troubles between Russia and Georgia (More at: http://www.clearmymail.com/press/journalists_shot_in_georgia_virus_spam_email.aspx)

So yes, the amount of spam is increasing faster than ever… and its getting more dangerous too, but at the end of the day if people didn’t buy from spam – it wouldn’t exist!

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