How the Internet Works, Eighth Edition

Chapter 12. How Email Spam Works

One of the most contentious issues to surface on the Internet in the last few years has to do with what Internet users call spam. Spam is unsolicited junk email that commercial companies send out, asking you to buy their goods and services. At times it might contain inducements to visit the seller’s site. The email usually contains a phone number to call, an address to send money to, or a website to visit to buy the goods and services. Increasingly, spam also contains pornographic content and scams.

The term spam comes from a Monty Python skit in which every item on a menu contained Spam luncheon meat. ...