These two groups gather and disseminate information to help system administrators keep spam out of their networks. Although MAPS and ORBS unite against spam, they themselves disagree over the best methods to achieve their aims, and have even come to Internet blows over their policies. This article will look at the spam phenomenon, describe how MAPS and ORBS wage their campaigns against spam, examine their conflicts, and discuss whether their anti-spam tools have a place in the enterprise. How Spam Gets Around Spam exists because e-mail is a cheap and efficient advertising mechanism. Instead of incurring the printing and postage costs of standard mail, all Internet advertising requires is an e-mail account and a list of addresses.
Spammers have several options for sending e-mail in bulk.
One method is to go through a so-called spamhaus, an organization specifically set up to host spammers. In addition, the free e-mail accounts that have sprung up on the Internet in recent years benefit spammers and legitimate users alike. This makes it particularly difficult to close down spamming operations, says Joyce Graff, vice president and research director of e-mail at the Gartner Group . She likens the situation to con men. They set up shop in a fake storefront, and by the time the police arrive, they're gone.