An Analytical Look at Spam

By Yaginuma of VGMusic.com (Michael B. Newman), B.S.E.-Chemical Engineering
Founder of the Videogame Music Archive
E-mail: - Your feedback would be appreciated!

Keywords / Key phrases: "manifesto on spam", "manifesto against spam", spam, "spam problem"

Why am I writing this?

I am writing this manifesto mainly because I'm angry, but also because I like to solve problems. Since June 20, 2001, I have been unfortunate enough to receive 402 spam messages (stat date: July 17, 2001). This is ridiculous. Hopefully, my efforts to bring an engineering prospective to the spam problem will one day result in the end of spam's chokehold on humanity!

What is spam?

Spam is typically defined as "unsolicited e-mail". (Spam can also be used as a verb in the sense of sending unsolicited e-mail to someone.) This is along the lines of "junk mail", which is unsolicited postal mail. Most people argue "I didn't ask for it, I shouldn't get it." But I believe that statement is wrong, and on top of that the issues (or true problems) are more complex.

Spam should not be confused with SPAM (TM) the luncheon meat. Please see Hormel's explanation.

I recommend spelling the e-mail-type of "spam" in all lowercase letters when stylistically possible.

Additional Terms:

What is the problem?

An engineer always asks "what is the problem?". Most people will just rush and say "kill spammers" or "we need Spam filters". But an engineer takes a more global look by directly addressing the underlying problems. Often, more effective (and humane :-) solutions can be found this way. Unfortunately, there are multiple problems:

So in summary, Spam is troublesome because it:

But wait, there are counter-arguments to that!

I dispute such counter-arguments because spam does not save net-time nor net-money (ironic play on the word "net") nor does it on average make people feel better or properly (factually, honestly) educate people. Unfortunately, I love to overanalyze things. Its not illegal to waste someone's time from what I understand. But perhaps you are holding someone's attention hostage. :-). Hostage = "A prisoner who is held by one party to insure that another party will meet specified terms" (WordWeb dictionary). They hold your attention hostage so that you buy their product. Now wasting someone's money is a property damage from what I understand and can be litigated in court. However, their is a minimum amount of damages that must be present before such a case can be brought before a court (I think). Plus, regular messages consume your money too. That leads up to "social contract":

Social Contract

John Locke, where are you? Perhaps what we are failing to address is the existence of an unstated "social contract". That is "an implicit agreement among people that results in the organization of society", or how society acts (WordWeb dictionary). Some people believe that in terms of a "social contract", when you have an Internet e-mail account, you are agreeing to receive any message from any person. This viewpoint unfortunately lets spammers off the hook. I think its wrong to allow people to send messages that cause you emotional damage. So, the "social contract" instead should be you are agreeing to receiving non-threatening messages from any person. So your time and money can still be wasted. :-( Hopefully someone has a better idea.

Right to Receive Spam (Argh!)

Its hard to ban spam outright though because it seems people should have the right to receive spam if they want to. Otherwise, we would be dealing with censorship and extreme curtailing of the freedom of speech.

Reasons for wanting to receive spam:

So What's So Evil Here?

Sounds like I'm being nice to spammers, but I'm just being fair to the issues, as well as fair to the rights of individuals. There is still lots of wrong doings being done via spam: 

Why do Spammers Spam?

While we know a woodchuck woodchucks wood to sharpen its teeth, why does a spammer spam? Let's look at the motivating factors involved:

Motivating factors are nice (especially for explaining dumb criminal actions), but the reason dumb and smart "criminals" spam is that SPAMMING WORKS! That is, people make money off it, or can raise awareness for an issue, cause emotional damage, or worse yet can effectively clog up someone's e-mail account.

What is the system being analyzed?

Engineers like to deal with systems, that is: put something in a theoretical box! But what is the "box" when dealing the previously mentioned spam problems? Possiblities are:

Analogous Situations

Sometimes it helps to consider similar situations and the issues that surround them. Situations that are similar to spam include:

Balance Analysis

Instead of a mass or energy balance, we have the...
Spam Balance (TM).

In chemical engineering, balances help us analyze how some quantity (such as mass or energy) moves in and out of a system, as well as where it accumulates in places. Formula-wise, a balance is:

INPUT - OUTPUT + GENERATION - CONSUMPTION = ACCUMULATION

Let's now look at what each term means in term of Spam, and also what the sources are:

Sources of INPUT (Enters system by crossing system boundary):

Sources of OUTPUT (Leaves system by crossing system boundary):

Sources of GENERATION (Appears in system without crossing system boundary):

Sources of CONSUMPTION (Leaves system without crossing system boundary):

Locations of ACCUMULATION (Rate of amount staying in system):

Where do spammers get your e-mail address from?

Please tell me they don't make my address up out of thin air!

Unfortuantely, as it has been pointed out to me, if your e-mail address is not very unique, chances are you've been hit by spam due to a method called a "dictionary attack". For example, spammers can send spam messages to simple first name addresses at each mailserver they know of: bob@microsoft.com, bob@vgmusic.com, bob@bob.com... Other simple combinations of words and numbers can be generated in a quick batch method by spammers.

Solutions to Spam

I'm not jumping-the-gun here, but just listing possible solutions that I've heard through the grapevine:

Solutions Regarding Sources of INPUT (stop Spam from being sent to your e-mail address):

Solutions Regarding Sources of OUTPUT (stop Spam from being sent to others FROM YOU):

Solutions That Utilize OUTPUT (sending, replying to, or forwarding messages to stop Spam):

Solutions Regarding ACCUMULATION (dealing with Spam when it has already arrived):

Solutions from Outside the SYSTEM:

Solutions that Change the SYSTEM:

Related Links

Concluding Remarks

The Best Solution So Far: I feel hashcash/camram has the most potential to alleviate the spam problem. This revelutionary idea gives e-mail value, or more importantly, associates a cost in sending out e-mail (CPU time). Used in combination with filters, it would provide a very important measure of whether a message should be considered spam. In the meantime (until hashcash/camram gets past the concept stage), I am very hopeful about the success that distributed filters like CloudMark may be able to provide. It takes my old favorite solution to spam, "Get a secretary!", and expands its to an even higher level.

Good luck fighting spam! And happy analyzing to all! :-)

Page Created: 2001-07-15
Page Last Updated: 2006-11-22

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