The lifeblood of the spammer is email. They need to be able to
send lots of it on an ongoing basis to stay in "business". High
profile spammers can send 80 million pieces of junk email every
single day. Yes one single person.
ISPs all over the online world have vowed to stop spammers
sending such vast amounts of email through their mail servers.
Do they really keep their word? All the end user sees is that
the spam keeps coming. There must be a loophole there somewhere.
There is.
In the soft white underbelly of the internet there exists
something known as a pink contract. The term pink contract comes
from the color of the famous tinned meat that
junk email gets its name from. A pink contract is simply a
business agreement between the ISP and the spammer. The spammer
agrees to pay the ISP to turn a blind eye to the junk email
passing through their mail servers.
Surely this is bad business for the ISP? Well the answer to that
is both Yes and No. Yes it's bad news for the people who receive
the junk email and No it's good news for the ISPs bank balance.
A monthly pink contract can pay the ISP amounts from $10,000
upwards. Bearing in mind that the average work-at-home spammer
averages $100,000 net per year the above figure is small change
fo the bigger junk email vendors (the guys who earn $200,000 -
$400,000 per month.)
But..... the CanSpam Act 2003... surely that's going to make a
difference? Of course.
Any ISP in the United States can get in serious, serious trouble
for signing pink contracts. Problem is that there's a whole big
world wide web out there and the vast majority of pink contracts
are signed with overseas ISPs where US authorities have no
jurisdiction - China and Russia being perfect examples.
There's no moral to this story. Spam is a huge problem that's
finally being taken seriously by Governmental bodies. However
until they start imposing prison sentences or seizure orders on
those individuals and companies in the pink contract business
the problem can only continue.
About the author:
This article was provided courtesy of Spam-Site.com which
reviews and tests spam filter
software for the business and end user.
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