MPP and Beyond

People ask me all the time why there is so much spam and why the problem keeps growing? Why is there so much attention on the spam problem legally, governmentally and technically, yet it all seems to have zero effect on the spam problem? The antispam industry grows at an alarming rate, but though there are no data points to back my claim besides emperical evidence, the spam industry seems to be growing at a far faster rate. My hypothesis of why this condition persists is because spam is a culutural and psychological problem that can not be solved by technology, legislation or government.

Spam works becuase it targets the most primary drivers of human baseness - money, sex and drugs while exploiting our addiction to instantaneous information. Any thing that can i) appeal to the baseness of humanity, ii) do it with some creativity, iii) figure out a good distribution network iv) exploit our addiction to instant information and v) make LOTS of money for the purveyors, will have unlimited success. Wheter it’s a disease, clothing, entertaiment, art - or spam, if it hits on all cylinders there’s no stopping it. It’s ‘the Tipping Point,’ theory and spam fits right in the mold.

The cure for the spam problem faces the same hurdles as cures for drug and alcohol problems, sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS or Herpes or other deadly diseases. Bill Gates money can’t end diseases any more than Mike Katz products can fix the spam problem because they are cultural problems and can’t be fixed with money or technology alone. Of course technology plays a big problem, but email is not just technology, it has become a sociology. Vaccines alone don’t end diseases, it takes Mother’s to bring their kids to the doctors, schools to require vaccinations, governments to require vaccinations, money to create and distribute the vaccines and a healthy profit margin every step of the way. Spam is the same and until there are mulit-level efforts that include education, legislation, technology and cultural wil the problem will persist.

In future posts I will propose fixes, but for now, I have this thought off my chest and I would love to hear your comments.

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