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Spammers have developed a variety of spamming techniques, which vary by media: e-mail spam, instant messaging spam, Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engines spam, weblogs spam, and mobile phone messaging spam. Spamming is economically viable because advertisers have effectively no operating costs beyond the management of their mailing lists. Because the barrier to entry is so low, the volume of unsolicited mail has produced other costs which are borne by the public (in terms of lost productivity and fraud) and by Internet service providers, which must add extra capacity to cope with the deluge. Spamming is widely reviled, and has been the subject of legislation in a number of jurisdictions.
Advice
There has been a blurring of boundaries between informational content and advertising in online contexts, and there are obvious concerns to children regarding compliance on websites to standards that apply in other media such as television. Advertising guidelines for television state the need for a separation between advertising and content, but this is not the case on the Internet. Online sites use information to build brand awareness, or link favourite brand cartoon characters to games and education information, encouraging children to build a consumer mentality and various brand loyalties.
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What sorts of messages are communicated?
According to research commissioned by Internet security company Symantec, more than 80 percent of Net users between the ages of 7 and 18 years old get "inappropriate" unsolicited commercial e-mail on a daily basis. More than half the 1,000 young people surveyed said the spam made them feel "uncomfortable" and "offended." More than three-quarters of young people surveyed said they had at least one e-mail account, and nearly half said they didn't ask permission before giving out their e-mail addresses. More than one in five of those surveyed said their parents had not spoken to them about spam.
What contexts are there that I ought to consider?
Different ISPs and web-based e-mail companies deal with spam and junk mail in different ways and with differring levels of efficiency. Whilst it cannot be said that any one particular organsiation is totally effective at eradicating spam, some companies are more visible and therefore often targeted more frequently and successfully than others. It may be worth evaluating a variety of companies for using e-mail to see if any have better preventative measures than others which could avoid children coming into contact with harmful content.
It is also wise not to give your e-mail address out to all and sundry. Offline businesses now regularly ask for e-mail addresses on forms and feedback cards, and may sell your details on to another organisation or use it to send junk mail. However, if you place your e-mail address on a public website you will, more likely than not, receive spam at some point, as many spammers harvest e-mail addresses from publicly available websites.
Helplines
Who do I report any un acceptable behaviour too. Read about other helplines.
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Sources: Cyberspace Research Unit
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