The Process of Internet Spamming - Essay Example

Internet Spam Background The process of spamming involves sending bulk messages to the receiver in anindiscriminate fashion with use of communication media that are popular among the people. The spam messages are generally advertisements or messages that acquire more space than normal. Internet is the most widely used form of communication medium in recent times. Therefore, the senders of spam messages target the internet channels for sending the bulk unsolicited messages to the public. The various forms of internet spam include the e-mail spam, spam in blogs, social networking spam, internet forum spam, etc. The internet spam is an economic way of sending unsolicited bulk messages to the masses of the society. The economic viability of internet spamming process is very high as the senders of the spam messages derive benefits due to low cost involved with maximum access to the target customers. The sender of the spam message through the internet channels are not required to incur any considerable cost and are able to send the message to an unfiltered section of the people. The advertisers in internet spamming process are only required to manage a list of bulk recipients to whom the desired advertisements are sent through the online mode. It is very difficult to hold the sender of internet spam as accountable for the activity of sending unsolicited messages (Kutais 35). The barriers of entering the field of internet spam are very low for the advertisers and the senders. Due to this reason, there has been increase in large numbers of internet spam. The costs of internet spam are; however, bore by the internet service providers and the public. The loss of available space and productivity due to the internet spam is incurred by the service providers. The internet spam sent over the internet channels have also resulted in numerous frauds which have affected the interests of the users of internet. Due to this reason, the internet spam has come under legislative consideration in various jurisdictions. Problem Definition The problem definition in the area of internet spam has been derived from the underlying problems that occurred due to the activities of spamming over the internet. The spamming over the internet has gained prevalence due to the wide use of internet channels by the users in recent times. Almost all communication is passed through the internet by the users due to the prompt delivery of the communicated messages and the increasing access to the World Wide Web at affordable costs. Thus the advertisers or senders of the spammed messages found that they could reach out to maximum number of people in society at lowest operating costs. But the fact whether these messages are unsolicited by the users of internet were not taken into consideration by the advertisers. Knowing fully well that the messages may not be solicited by the recipients, the advertisers, anonymous senders or senders with pseudo-names keep sending bulk messages that unnecessarily cover large spaces over the internet. This caused problems to the service providers as they incur losses of productivity and useful online space that could be used for revenue earnings. The internet spam also reflects mal-intention on the part of the senders as these misguide the users of internet with lucrative offers with underlying software viruses in disguise. By accessing the internet spam, the systems of the user get affected by harmful viruses which impose undue monetary loss (Brunton 48). Other than these, the most significant problem is caused by the internet spam that contains fraudulent offers in the advertisements. The spam is often unethical in influencing the users to share their user identification and passwords in order to access the offers advertised over the internet. The users get lured by the cheap offers and get trapped in the frauds intended by the spammed messages in the internet. Problem Evidence The evidence of the problems occurring due to the internet spam, as unsolicited bulk messages sent by the advertisers to an unfiltered section of the society, has been presented as follows. According to a report published by the CISCO Systems in 2011, the proportion of the various countries all over the world in originating the spammed messages in the internet is as follows. This shows that the internet spam is a worldwide phenomenon. This is evidence to the fact that the number of spammed messages have increased rapidly in the World Wide Web due to the presence of low barriers to entry for the advertisers. The sending of spammed messages over the internet creates congestion in the internet traffic. The electronic mails are the most widely used medium of sending spammed messages over the internet. The spammed messages are sent electronically by the advertisement by the click of a button without caring about the needs of the target customers. About 50%-75% of the total messages sent over electronic mail are spammed. A considerable part of the internet based messages comprise of bulk unsolicited messages. The other channels of internet spam are social networking websites, internet forums, blogs, etc. The spammed messages through e-mail are sent through the use of zombie networks, virus affected networks from several parts of the world. The social networking sites like the Face-book, Twitter are also prone to be adopted by the spammers for sending internet spam (Berger 155). The activities of hacking by the spammers and subsequent false links sent by them in the accounts of internet users which contain viruses or traps for intended frauds are evidence to the problems of internet spam. The links containing the spammed messages are also posted in the blogs. The spammers also use fraudulent links and place them above the rest by manipulating the algorithm of search engine optimization. All these practices and findings are evidence to the problems of internet spam. Consequences The activities of internet spam have severe consequences on the users, service providers and also the society, at large. The internet spam has grown to be a major area of concern for the community as it has led to the congestion of internet traffic, spread of viruses and created fraudulent traps for the users of internet. These consequences of the internet spam have undermined the trust of the community on the medium of internet and the reliability on digital technologies. The use of spammed messages over the internet has created barriers to all the free flowing activities that were intended to be carried out in a smooth manner. The anticipation of the probable losses imposed by the internet spam has created reservations in the society over the use of electronic medium of communication, internet and the digital technology applications (Internet Society 1). The acquiring of huge terabytes of space by the internet spam has resulted in the restrictions in the free trade over the internet. The barriers in the free trade has caused due to the slowdown of the speed of internet access. The congestion of traffic due to internet spam has resulted in delay in the trading of online payments involving online purchase and payment. The services providers have also lost their productivity as they needed to add more space which incurred additional cost. The access to world wide information has also been affected by the internet spam. The internet spam often contains viruses which lead to damages of the hardware and software of the computers. The malicious effects of the spammed messages in the internet have created reservations among the users in accessing the various links available in the internet in order to restrict loss of damage. This has restricted free flow of information available on the internet. The various fraud traps set by the spammers have also resulted in monetary losses incurred through payments based on the misleading information available in the spammed messages. Works cited Berger, Sandy. Great Age Guide to the Internet. USA: Que Publishing, 2005. Print. Brunton, Finn. Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet. USA: MIT Press, 2013. Print. Internet Society. Spam. 2013. Web. 01 October. 2013. < http://www.internetsociety.org/spam>. Kutais. Spam and Internet Privacy. USA: Nova Publishers, 2007. Print. Read More