By Fred Hume

Are you tired of the increasing amount of spam? How did they find you? Where does it all come from? Here's a possible answer.

According to a recent article in Zdnet News*, in a study released last month, "New York-based Jupiter Research, a division of Jupiter Media Metrix, predicted that Web e-mail providers and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will increasingly use their power to weed out unwanted messages from consumer e-mail in-boxes as a way to squeeze profits out of direct e-mail marketers. Since Web e-mail services already restrict access to a member's primary in-box, advertisers looking to reach consumers online will be forced to pay a premium to avoid getting dumped in the trash, according to Jupiter analyst Christopher Todd." 

OK, so what are they really saying here? Well, it's starting to look more and more like some of the Web based e-mail giants (Hotmail and Yahoo are the two I most frequently hear mentioned so far) are playing both ends against the middle.

Both Hotmail and Yahoo have filters that you can set on your mail account to block spam mail. But what the article I mentioned above is really saying is that "for a fee" they will unblock the spammer or not put any type of block on his mailings in the first place. Interesting, huh?

I sometimes get annoyed by certain types of spam and, as a hobby, track down the sending address and report it to the e-mail provider to get the ID removed. Lately, though, I have encountered some reluctance on the part of Hotmail, in particular, to deal with certain spammers. I started wondering what I had to do to prove to them that spamming was happening within their own network, especially since I am capable of using network tracking tools and other resources to be pretty sure where the spam came from before I report it. 

When it got to the point that I was including the "traceback" and the "allwhois" database information in my notes, information that clearly showed the owner of the offending ID was a Hotmail account even though the header information was forged (falsified), and still Hotmail was telling me that it wasn't a valid Hotmail account and they could take no action, I started getting a little suspicious. 

So, looks like the "free lunch" is over, so to speak. Web site operators, at some point, need to pay the bills and what better way to do that, and still look like the good guys for giving us a freebie, than to get the cash from the other end. 

Why bother with filters for spam in the first place? Well, too much spam and your users get turned off and get a different account or stop using e-mail altogether. But if the e-mail giants can balance just the right amount, they can make a profit and you get a free mail ID.

Cool, huh? Sure is. So here's how it works. The "spammers" that are willing to play the game and fork over the cash will get the "privilege" of being allowed to spam, let's say, Hotmail accounts for example. Anybody that won't cough up the cash will be blocked. This works well for the mass marketers and the Internet provider. Unfortunately it's just another gimmick to sell out the end user to the highest bidder.

Now add to this a "minor problem," according to Hotmail, that happened last summer where through an accidental programming goof, about 1.5 million Hotmail user ID's were displayed to the Web operators that had any type of a banner ad in a note that came into a Hotmail account, which, by the way, Hotmail was able to "fix" in about two months when it was pointed out to them. I think an interesting pattern is forming here.

* ZD Net News, "Spam: Are Yahoo, Hotmail and crew part of the problem?" By Stefanie Olsen, Special to ZDNet, January 25, 2001 2:38 PM PT