QA Forum

Question & Answer

We are discussing Surfing through Computers and the Internet
With Nathanael Boehm, Nan Bosler and DCITA

Question:
What is spam?

Answer:
DCITA -Spam is the common term for commercial electronic messages sent without consent of the addressee via email, short message service (SMS), Multimedia message service or instant messaging.

The term ‘spam’ is said to derive from a famous Monty Python sketch ("Well, we have SPAM, tomato & SPAM, egg & SPAM, Egg, bacon & SPAM”). The word spam is spoken so many times in such a short timeframe that it drowns out all other relevant words.

Spam messages often contain a commercial offer, advertisement or promotion and sometimes these messages may direct the recipient to a location where goods and services are sold or advertised.

Many spam messages are linked to scams such as the “Nigerian scam” which offer large amounts of money in return for a much smaller amount of money or customer bank details.

Malicious spam seeks to compromise computers by infecting them with viruses which can result in financial damage to the recipient or the computer being used to send on many more emails to unwilling recipients.

Spammers also use a technique known as “phishing”. These emails often look like official letters from banks and other legitimate businesses and requests ‘clients’ to reply with personal information that can be used for identity theft or obtain funds.

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