War Sparks Flood of Spam The Iraq war has prompted a flood of unsolicited e-mail, as spam e-mail artists take their cue from the war to hawk everything from patriotic T-shirts to gas masks and water filtration systems. War-related spam accounted for 10 percent of all junk e-mail compiled last month in the anti-spam database of Scotts Valley, Calif.-based SurfControl, an anti-spam software firm. Most of the unsolicited e-mail contained solicitations for pro-American pride merchandise such as American flags, commemorative coins and discounted U.S. history books, the company said. Among the pitches were "Israeli Gas Masks in Stock for a Limited Time!"; "Show your Support with a US Lapel Pin!"; and "Honor our Military with Exclusive Collectibles." The most common forms of war-related spam were variations on a theme. SurfControl said it counted 216 variants of a message selling gas masks in March, compared to zero in February. John Mozena, a spokesman for the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail, said that spammers tend to take advantage of current events as ready-made marketing pitches. "After Sept. 11 [2001] we did see a ... sort of bump, anecdotally," Mozena said. "My favorite was the World Trade Center commemorative calling card. It had the New York skyline before Sept. 11, and it became commemorative after that." The Federal Trade Commission, which monitors unsolicited e-mail for fraud and other illegal activity, reported 2,469 spam e-mails containing the words "Iraq," "war" and "troops" in March, compared to 292 messages in February, said spokeswoman Claudia Bourne-Farrell. About 40 percent of all e-mail traffic in the United States is spam, according to a late 2002 estimate issued by anti-spam software vendor Brightmail Inc. Source: Washingtonpost.Com
BLAZE SHOW UP.... sorry, Blaze: this is too serious to turn into a "fun thread". your post has been altered for that reason - paul
It bloody annoys me that spammers not only try every dirty trick in the book to get their weak and pathetic message across (hence v.i.a.g.r.a.) but now they cash in on suffering and anguish . They defy words with their ...........bugger that I give up. They are scum No more no less
Before the war in Iraq spammers were already scum, and during the Iraq war spammers stayed the same scum. Their only purpose was and is to make money in a dirty way, the war in Iraq is only a new $-source for them to fill their greedy pockets. I already wrote in this forum about Greed: "What it is: Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness. Why you do it: You live in possibly the most pampered, consumerist society since the Roman Empire. Your punishment in Hell will be: You'll be boiled alive in oil. Bear in mind that it's the finest, most luxurious boiling oil that money can buy, but it's still boiling."
