In this day and age, when people say spam, no one refers to the canned precooked meat product anymore. Spam is now a term that applies to the bulk of unsolicited email messages sent to en masse to unsuspecting recipients on the web. These messages are usually sent by businesses or entrepreneurs to advertise or market their products and services. This is done all over the internet by users and businesses all over the world, to the point that spam has become such a nuisance, and various techniques have been devised to block them from people’s inboxes. One such innovation is antispam software, which has proven very effective in the past and still continues to do so today.

The act of sending spam is called spamming, while those who send spam are called spammers. In the year 2011 alone, it is estimated that there were around seven trillion spam messages sent throughout the web. This type of guerrilla marketing campaign is so popular because it doesn’t require manpower or money to run it: all you need is en email address and some time to manage your email, and you can launch your own virtual spam campaign. It is also difficult to hold the spammer accountable for flooding your inbox with spam, as it’s difficult to trace the spam to an actual sender.

According to the Internal Market Commission of the European Union, “junk email” is estimated to have wasted about €10 billion worldwide, while according to the California state legislature, spam cost United States organizations more than $13 billion in 2007. This is because combating this problem costs money, equipment, and manpower. With spam costing people and businesses around the world time, money, and precious resources, many seek a way to keep from getting spammed. Continue reading »