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Review: Spam Kings
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© 3-18-05 Dr. Neale
Monks
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- Book: Spam Kings
- Author: Brian McWilliams
- Publisher: O'Reilly
- Publication Date: October
2004
- ISBN:
0-596-00732-9
- Info: xv + 333
- Price: $22.95
Spam, or unsolicited, bulk e-mail, is probably
the single biggest nuisance on the Internet. Though
other sorts of questionable and criminal activities
(such as identity theft and music piracy) are more
obviously harmful and come with easy to appraise
price tags, spam e-mail remains a slippery problem
for both Internet users and law enforcers to deal
with. For one thing, it is not individual spam e-mails
that cost users and Internet service providers time
and money, but the sheer quantity of them, and those
costs are ones that can be difficult to define and
value as and when spammers are brought to trial.
The result is that as things stand now, the average
home or office user will probably only be aware
of their own efforts to block spam, or those of
their network administrator.
However, even if this is the impression most people
have, it isn’t a particularly accurate one.
Although governments and law enforcers have found
it very difficult to tackle spam and spammers in
any meaningful or concerted way, individuals from
different branches of the computing industry have
been able to come together in a variety of ways
to make life difficult for spammers in their own
informal but surprisingly effective way.
Spam Kings is about spammers and the people that
work against them. Although the overall tone of
the book is critical of the spam industry, it
isn’t unsympathetic, and that is one of the
nicest things about the book. Few of the spammers
come across as bad people, but rather opportunists
simply trying to make a buck in a difficult world.
The fact they do this in a way that (at best) inconveniences
millions of people isn’t overlooked, but by
focusing on the personalities of the people involved
the reader gets a much clearer idea of their motives
and methods. McWilliams wisely steps back from casting
each spammer into the same black mould of criminals
and ne’er-do-wells as if they were chess pieces
all working together to advance their side. While
such a view might be attractive to those who want
to see an Internet mafia behind everything bad about
the Web, the reality is much more complex.
Similarly, the ad hoc structure of the people
who come together to fight spam is similarly reflected.
While there are some tangible threads that pull
many of these activists together (such as NANAE,
the news.admin.net-abuse.email newsgroup) for the
most part each anti-spammer is an individual with
their own reasons for wading into the fight. Even
more interestingly, these people also have their
limits, and when the spammers start fighting back
even the most hardened anti-spammer will sometimes
need to back off. Since these are individuals, the
threat of expensive law suits are often used by
spammers to warn anti-spammers off, but at other
times the fight gets nastier, with the spammers
targeting the family or private life of anti-spammers
instead.
Instead of adopting a traditional historical perspective
to tell his tale, McWilliams focuses on two protagonists
in particular, one from each camp, Davis Hawke and
Susan Gunn. Hawke is a fascinating character: a
one-time neo-Nazi with Jewish ancestors and talented
chess player, his switch from trying to change the
world to simply making a profit off of it seems
logical, even inexorable. As his career as a spammer
unfolds, other big league spammers come into the
tale. Some of these are interesting people in their
own right, like Scott Richter, for example, who
manages (at times anyway) to maintain quite cordial
relations with many of the anti-spammers despite
being considered one of the most egregious spammers
in cyberspace.
Susan Gunn’s story is equally interesting.
Starting as a single individual who follows up her
annoyance with spam with detective work and computing
know-how, then finds out that she isn’t the
only one doing this. As she become inducted into
the various anti-spam groups, so McWilliams is able
to reveal to the reader more about how and why people
join this particular crusade. After all, there isn’t
any money in it, and the risks of being sued, having
your private life exposed or your family being harassed,
are quite real. But despite these risks, these people
fight the good fight, and take on spammers as best
they can.
As the story develops, McWilliams builds up a
picture of the battlefields and the tactics. A detailed
glossary is provided to help explain the less familiar
terms, and because the world of spam and spammers
operates behind the world that most Internet users
work and play in, even someone knowledgeable about
computers in the home and office will find this
useful. Even better, the book has photographs of
many of the characters involved, and this obviously
helps the reader put a face to a name. Finally,
an index and ‘where are they now’ section
rounds off the book.
McWilliams is an experienced author, and his breadth
of understanding helps keep the prose informed and
clear while skillfully managing to avoid becoming
too technical, no mean feat given that the channels
through which spammers and anti-spammers work are
often obscure and unfamiliar. While not an essential
read (this book isn’t a text book on avoiding
spam or how to become an anti-spam activist) it’s
an enjoyable read, and warmly recommended to anyone
looking for something fun but relevant to take with
them on their next vacation.
- Dr.
Neale Monks
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