Thursday, December 11, 2003
spam - Webopedia.com
From today, spamming is illegal. But only within the EU, and not to businesses. How weak and short-sighted is that? Unsolicited email has to be allowed, else you'll not get the benefits of the internet - if people can find your pages and know how to contact you but are not allowed to, there'd be a problem. But bulk emailing is much easier to define and the damage that spam does to the web, in terms of wasted resources and time, is so large that the occasional benefits of a minorly interesting drug or porn site or slimming pill are not worth the cost.
But the point of this blog is that I got a call at the stupidly early time of 0814 this morning (worse, I was awake) from BBC Raio West Midlands, asking why it's called Spam.
My answer comprised basically of "errr, ummmm" though I ventured that the most likely was from Monty Python, the Spam song. And Webopedia agrees, it seems. But if anyone's got a better idea, let me know.
From today, spamming is illegal. But only within the EU, and not to businesses. How weak and short-sighted is that? Unsolicited email has to be allowed, else you'll not get the benefits of the internet - if people can find your pages and know how to contact you but are not allowed to, there'd be a problem. But bulk emailing is much easier to define and the damage that spam does to the web, in terms of wasted resources and time, is so large that the occasional benefits of a minorly interesting drug or porn site or slimming pill are not worth the cost.
But the point of this blog is that I got a call at the stupidly early time of 0814 this morning (worse, I was awake) from BBC Raio West Midlands, asking why it's called Spam.
My answer comprised basically of "errr, ummmm" though I ventured that the most likely was from Monty Python, the Spam song. And Webopedia agrees, it seems. But if anyone's got a better idea, let me know.
(c) 2003-2005 Russell Beale
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