Business Glossary

a computer term for unwanted e-mail. In a Monty Python television skit, a group of Vikings in a restaurant sing about the meat product, "Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, lovely spam Wonderful spam" until told to shut up. As a result, something that keeps being repeated to great annoyance was called spam, and computer programmers picked up on it.

Protect your e-mail address.Spammers either buy lists of e-mail addresses or use software programs that mine the addresses from the Internet. If your address is posted in discussion groups, on Web sites, in chat rooms, etc., chances are it will end up on one or more of these lists. Only post your address publicly when absolutely necessary.
Set up multiple e-mail accounts.If you do participate regularly in on-line activities where you post your address, set up another e-mail account. Reveal it only to close friends and family.
Use spam filters.Many e-mail programs, such as Outlook Express, have built-in tools that block messages sent from certain addresses or that filter messages based on key words you define. Check the on-line help files for your e-mail software.
Use anti-spam software.You can install software designed to eliminate spam. Some work by matching incoming messages against a list of known spammers; others block messages that don't match an approved list of acceptable addresses. Check out the latest anti-spam programs at Download.com.
Report violators.A number of government agencies and private groups accept complaints. Whether they can do anything to stop the deluge is an unanswered question. Forward spam to the Federal Trade Commission at uce@ftc.gov.
Source: about.com

unsolicited and unwelcome advertisements sent to people via email or posted in newsgroups. "Spammers" have discovered that they can reach a large audience at low cost on the Internet by posting the same message to all available newsgroups or e-mailing it to all possible addresses.

Spamming is considered seriously unethical for two reasons. First, newsgroups and e-mail would be useless if they routinely contained unwanted material. Second, the cost of transporting e-mail and newsgroup postings is not paid by the sender; it is paid by the recipient's site and other sites along the way. Thus, it is important not to impose expenses on people by sending them unwanted material.

In some places, spamming by e-mail is illegal, and there is a strong movement to prohibit it everywhere. More importantly, almost all Internet service providers (ISPs) flatly prohibit both e-mail and newsgroup spam. The few ISPs that allow spamming are ostracized by other sites, which refuse to accept any data from them. See computer ethics ; netiquette ; S. 1618; computer law .

Experts advise that you should never reply to spam, even to ask to be taken off the mailing list, because that will merely tell the spammer that he has hit a valid address.

It is not clear why spam was named after a processed-meat product made by Hormel, but a Monty Python comedy act may be involved. For Hormel's response to the situation, see www.spam.com.

unwanted or unsolicited commercial e-mail message from someone you do not know or with whom you do not have an established business relationship. Spam is the electronic equivalent of junk mail . Internet etiquette demands that marketers refrain from sending e-mail to consumers who have not indicated an interest in communicating with them. Several states have enacted or proposedlegislation against spam. The Direct Marketing Association urges Internet marketers to utilize an opt-in mechanism, allowing consumers to give or rescind permission for e-mails to be sent.

junk e-mail . Unsolicited messages (often of a commercial nature) sent indiscriminately (and sometimes more than once) to a large group of users or posted to multiple newsgroupS .