Camila wolfzun assignment (1)
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The term "spam" originated from a Monty Python sketch about a menu filled with spam. It came to refer to unwanted messages that are obtrusive and suppress other important messages. The first spam emails were sent in 1993 to promote the services of a law firm. Today, spam most commonly advertises adult content, health products, IT, personal finance, and education.
Camila wolfzun assignment (1)
- 1. Camila Wolfzun What is spam? If you use email, you will have encountered spam. However, do you know where the term comes from, and why is it used to refer to unwanted email? ‘Spam’ is an acronym derived from the words ‘spiced’ and ‘ham’. In 1937, the Hormel Foods Corporation (USA) started selling minced sausage made from out- of-date meat. The Americans refused to buy this unappetizing product. To avoid financial losses the owner of the company, Mr. Hormel, launched a massive advertising campaign, which resulted in a contract to provide tinned meat products to the Army and Navy. In 1937, Hormel Foods began to supply its products to American and allied troops. After World War 2, with Britain in the grips of an economic crisis, spam was one of the few meat products that was not rationed and hence was widely available. George Orwell, in his book ‘1984’, described spam as ‘pink meat pieces’, which gave a new meaning to the word ‘spam’ - something disgusting but inevitable. In December 1970 the BBC television comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus showed a sketch set in a cafe where nearly every item on the menu included spam - the tinned meat product. As the waiter recited the SPAM-filled menu, a chorus of Viking patrons drowned out all other conversation with a song repeating "SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM... lovely SPAM, wonderful SPAM", hence "Spamming" the dialogue. Since then spam has been associated with unwanted, obtrusive, excessive information, which suppresses required messages. In 1993, the term ‘spam’ was first introduced with reference to unsolicited or undesired bulk electronic messages. Richard Dephew, administrator of the world-wide distributed Internet discussion system Usenet, wrote a program which mistakenly caused the release of dozens of recursive messages onto the news.admin.policy newsgroup. The recipients immediately found an appropriate name for these obtrusive messages – spam. On April 12 1994, a husband-and-wife firm of lawyers, Canter & Siegel, posted the first massive spam mailing. The company’s programmer employed Usenet to advertise the services offered by Canter & Siegel, thus giving a start to commercial spam. Today the word ‘spam’ is widely used in email terminology, though Hormel tinned meat products are still on sale in the USA. Types of spam Spam comes in many different varieties, ranging from advertising of legitimate goods and services to political propaganda to Internet frauds. Spam worldwide tends to advertise a certain range of goods and services irrespective of language and geography. Number of words: 503. April 27th, 2012
- 2. Spammers constantly extend the range of their offers and are always searching for new ways of attracting unwary users. The list of spam categories is growing. However, when averaged out over the course of the year, 50% of spam falls into the following categories: 1. Adult content 4. Personal 2. Health finance 3. IT 5. Education and training How to reduce spam Spam is not only a nuisance, but can pose a threat to your computer or your data. For simple, practical guidelines on how you can reduce the amount of spam, you receive, read here. Number of words: 503. April 27th, 2012