Get ready for SPIM Risks Digest 23.11

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 08:48:41 -0700
From: "NewsScan" <newsscan () newsscan com>
Subject: Get ready for SPIM

Instant messenger spam, dubbed "spim," is increasingly clogging users'
computers, popping up with the real-time regularity of instant messages and
annoying users who complain they're now receiving several messages a day.
Users can either accept or decline the spim, which often contains a link to
-- what else? -- a pornography site. Ferris Research estimates about 500
million spim messages were sent in 2003, double the number sent in the
previous year. And while instant-messenger spam "isn't nearly the industry
that e-mail spam is, it's starting to increase," says the CEO of an antispam
consulting firm. Experts warn that the recent crackdown on conventional spam
may push illicit marketers to explore new avenues, including instant
messaging. "The irony is that focusing like a laser on our No. 1 concern --
spam -- has painted e-mail spammers into a corner like never before and
incited them to find other ways to try and reach our membership online,"
says an AOL spokesman.  [*Wall Street Journal*, 31 Dec 2003; NewsScan Daily,
31 Dec 2003]
  http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107228175621944800,00.html (sub req'd)

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