The late Jon Postel realized back in 1975 that the Internet was vulnerable to what he called the "junk mail problem." In a moment of extreme understatement, Postel wrote, "It would be useful for a host to be able to decline messages from sources it believes are misbehaving or are simply annoying." Twenty-four years later, it seems impossible to go a day without misbehaving, annoying spam.
Fortunately, Alan Schwartz and frequent Wired contributor Simson Garfinkel have assembled a comprehensive guidebook for avoiding Internet spam. Stopping Spam examines the cops-and-robbers tactics of both spammers and spam fighters at several levels, from the technical to the political. Its surprisingly engaging chapters leap from arcane Unix-configuration files to consumer email filters to lobbying organizations for the truly outraged.
The first 40 pages recount the history of spam, with excerpts and quotes from Postel and others. The authors even include bits from spammers Marcia Canter and Lawrence Siegel, as well as reformed "Spam King" Sanford Wallace, letting the offenders give their side of the story in their own words. Readers not infuriated by the go-for-it advice Wallace and crew dispense will find them hysterical. In the end, it seems that spammers spam because they can.
After three years of get-rich-quick books on how to send spam, a definitive work on its deterrence is long overdue. So much so that while I napped on a shuttle flight from Silicon Valley to Redmond, my copy of Stopping Spam disappeared from the seat next to me.
Stopping Spam: Stamping Out Unwanted Email & News Postings by Alan Schwartz and Simson Garfinkel: $19.95. O'Reilly & Associates: +1 (707) 829 0515.
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