A brief history of spam

Abstract

The behaviour both of spammers and those who have sought to counter their activities has gone through a rapid evolution as each has responded to the other. This steady escalation of spamming technique and of legal and technical counter-measures is described. The need to distinguish between legitimate businesses that wish to know the limits of permissible spam advertising and straightforwardly criminal spammers is now paramount. The first group are relatively easy to control, and indeed many of the necessary laws are already in place. The second is much more difficult and may prove impossible to control without radical changes to the very architecture of the Internet.