I couldn’t agree more with blogger John Levine who wrote last week, 'Truly, spam isn't a technical problem, it's a social one.' However, I think he misses the point when he goes on to suggest that the solution is ever better filtering to make ISPs block more and more mail.

To my mind, the real social problem of spam is that it works. People the world over are responding to unsolicited emails. And I’m not talking about the Nigerian scams or the mythical Spanish lottery. I mean the messages that drop into the inbox and make people say ‘oh that sounds good, I’d like to buy one of those’.

And that’s where the challenge of spam clearly lies. As long as there are people out buying whatever it is the spammers are selling then it will continue to be worthwhile going to all the trouble of sending spam. Spammers are (generally) not sending email as some kind of social experiment. They’re doing it to make money - and it seems as though there’s an unending stream of cash there to be taken. And it’s the people who reply that fuel the whole system.

It’s easy to categorise people who buy from unsolicited email as ‘stupid’ - but I challenge anyone to say that they have never once received an email with a product or service that really met a need and gone ahead and bought it, despite not really knowing where the email came from. I’ve certainly done it - and I really ought to know how bad an idea it is!

So how do we go about addressing this? Well for one, I think that governments and ISPs should be spending time and money on advertising and PR campaigns to hit home the point that responding to an email from someone you don’t recognise will ultimately mean that spam will never stop. You can set up all the filters in the world, but surely it would be better instead to try to take away the oxygen that keeps spam alive.

But on the basis that individual action can count for as much, I’m going to make a resolution starting from now. However good the offer looks - whatever the product - however hot the stock tip - if I know I didn’t sign up to receive that email, then I’m going to delete it. I’m not going to be an accessory to spam any more. Will anyone else join me?

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About The Author

Kieran Cooper is senior manager of support services for Lyris' international operations. Located in the Lyris UK office, he is responsible for account management, implementation and support.

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