spam

Spamming (verb) is the process of flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. People who send spam (noun) are called spammers. Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, or quasi-legal services. Most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or the carriers rather than by the spammer. There are two main types of spam: email and Usenet spam. Email spam targets individual users with direct mail messages. while Usenet spam is aimed at people who read newsgroups but rarely or never post and give their email address away. Usenet spam robs users of the utility of the newsgroups by overwhelming them with a barrage of advertising or other irrelevant posts. Furthermore, Usenet spam subverts the ability of system administrators and owners to manage the topics they accept on their systems. According to security services company IronPort, spam costs companies over $5 billion per year in IT resources ([|link]).