Repeat After Me
Last week, to mark the 30th anniversary of the very first spam message (sent over ARPANET, the precursor to today’s internet), Sophos have put forward a spam pledge. If everyone followed this pledge, there would be no financial benefit to anyone sending spam and so we’d get an awful lot less.
And just as importantly, buying anything from any of the spammers continues to fund their spamming activities. So repeat after me…
I, [NAME], do solemnly promise to you, my fellow internet users, that I will do my bit to fight the problem of spam, resist the temptation of weight loss adverts, fake Rolex watches, pump-and-dump stock market scams, and ways to increase the size of my body parts. And so henceforth, I make this pledge. To not click on links in unsolicited mail and never buy goods advertised via spam.Sophos Blog: Sophos Spam Pledge
[Image used with permission: thanks to Sophos]
Hello. I am 
What’s really disturbing is just how many people admit to having purchased goods sold via spam. According to a poll we ran on the Sophos website, 11% of people admit to having bought something because of junk email they received. The mind boggles.
I guess that sometimes spammers get lucky - and in a weak moment Joe Public realises that he *does* want “free money” or herbal viagra, and clicks on the link in front of them.
Thanks for giving the Sophos spam pledge. If anyone else needs encouragement they may wish to check out the video the guys in SophosLabs produced here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-E6hkOuEiI
Cheers