SPAM
- SPAM
- 1. Unsolicited e-mail (or newsgroup posting) sent out in bulk, usually
for commercial gain.
SPAM is typically promoting something. It may be advertising for a product, website or other service, it may be promoting ideologies (such as political or religious ones), or it may be to precipitate a fraud. Whist most SPAM is sent out for purposes of commercial gain, not all is spam has a financial motive.
SPAM can cause considerable problems because it is generated in large volume - both the volume generated by a single spammer and because there are lots of spammers generating email. The large volume of spam clogs up network resources and wastes a considerable amount of time.
See also ASTA, ASFN, UBE, UCE, Spammer, Open Relay, RBL, DNSBL, Phishing, Address Munging, SPF, RNDR.
For more information see:
- 2. Variant on the above: Unsolicited bulk e-mail from a stranger. This
definition distinguishes between spam and 'opt-in
e-mail'.
For more information see:
- 3. The act of sending out spam. A spammer is said to spam when he/she sends out spam.