When we refer to Spam we are not talking about the food product!
SPAM is a registered trademark of Hormel Foods Corporation.

What is spam?

Spam, including unsolicited commercial email, unsolicited bulk email, mass email, and junk email, is a message that advertises goods or services that you send to someone without their prior consent or in the absence of a previous relationship. In one respect spam is the electronic equivalent of the junk mail you receive in your postal mailbox every day.

There are three main types of spam: Usenet, message board, and email. Usenet and message board spam are messages sent or posted which are unrelated to the topic of discussion of the particular news group or message board. Email spam is any electronic mail message that is addressed to a recipient with whom the initiator does not have an existing business or personal relationship or is not sent at the request of, or with the express consent of, the recipient.

There are other types of Internet abuse that qualify as spam. These include, but are not limited to, spamming of chat rooms and spamming via Internet Relay Chat or "Instant Messaging" systems (such as ICQ).

For more information on spam visit:

• Junk Email
  This collaboration between the Center for Democracy and Technology and the Voters Telecommunications Watch offers background on the issues involved, an FAQ, tips on spotting and preventing fraud, legal resources, and a "scamspam" questionnaire you can fill out if you've been a victim.
• The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email
  CAUCE is a volunteer group of Internet users who are dedicated to fighting junk email and have formed a coalition to promote legislation that would outlaw unsolicited commercial email.
• http://spam.abuse.net/

Why is spam unethical?

We all get junk mail at home. It's an accepted fact of life, at least in the U.S. So why is spam unethical? Unlike the junk mail you receive in your snail mailbox, electronic junk mail costs the recipients more time and money than it costs the sender. It takes time to download, sort through, and identify junk mail, and then discard it. If you pay for Internet access by the hour or minute, then sorting through spam messages leads to increased time online, which translates into higher monthly bills for you.

Spam can slow the performance of the Internet. Large volumes of spam have been known to slow down email delivery for hours or even days, and it sometimes causes computers on the Internet to crash.

Spamming is considered rude. Conduct on the Internet is governed by an unwritten set of rules called "Netiquette," and one of those rules is that it's not acceptable to send out unsolicited mass emails.

How can I help stop spam?

There are several steps you can take to help reduce spam:

1. Do not spam!
2. Do not respond to spam.
3. If you receive spam, delete it unread.
4. Join CAUSE, The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email, and find out how you can become an anti-spam advocate.