Was the lady spammer a lesbian? Isn't it a bit crude and invasion of privacy to hack into her computer and expose her in thongs? Compared to spamming, that seems a bit harsh, but its funny...

Cecile, I skimmed through the site, and there's a lot more involved than simply spamming. Repeatedly spoofing a stolen domain name, stealing AOL user names and passwords, and pump-and-dump stock scams, to name a few. If half of what is on that site is true, being exposed in thongs is nothing compared to some serious jail time, or being sued into the poorhouse.

And even spammers who don't do what this woman seems to have done are guilty of stealing -- stealing time and money from those forced to read their advertising messages (because time is money, and because the recipient pays for the platform for the delivery of unwanted e-mail in monthly ISP fees). Also, it's often hard to find the important e-mail messages you need and want to read when your mailbox is flooded with spam.

Being sent spam is akin to having somebody break into your house and force you to listen to them read commercials. There are a number of spammers -- including this one -- who have had their home addresses and other personal data posted on the Internet by and have been flooded with junk mail from irate spam recipients.

Telemarketing calls make me equally angry. I don't maintain phone service so I can hear sales pitches, and often those pitches wake me up when I'm napping after finishing a column. The last one who called me -- US Telecom, which is guilty of "slamming" (tricking you into changing to them as long distance phone service provider) -- has called me before. I was worried that they'd slammed me the first time they called, so I had to spend about 15 or 20 minutes on the phone putting a special block on my account so nobody can change my long distance service but me. I knew what they were doing, but the elderly and people who aren't so skeptical are easily preyed upon by them. I've told them (perhaps four times) that they can never call me again, which has yet to stop them from calling. Perhaps I did, though, the last time they called. I told them I wasn't the person to talk to, but I'd give them the number of the person who was. I made them write down a number in Sacramento, then I told them who it belonged to: the California Atty General, to whom I'd already filed a complaint with about them. Something tells me they didn't pursue getting my business any further.

I read the site, too, and I wanted to thank the person for doing it, but his email link doesn't work.

Athena (aka, Amy Alkon, goddess of wisdom) writes: Also, it's often hard to find the important e-mail messages you need and want to read when your mailbox is flooded with spam.

That's true. In your efforts to simply click and delete the spam, you might also delete something important. Also, suppose you're careful to make sure you save all the important stuff, and delete the stuff you don't recognize because it might be spam. You might still delete an honest inquiry or sincere email, just because you don't recognize the email address.

Also, some of the spammers are sneaky. You might get an email with the subject line, "Hi, it's Lisa from high school." It just so happens I went to an Episcopalean, mostly boys, boarding school, and my high school didn't include a "Lisa." But I bet most everyone who went to public school knew a Lisa.

And who knows -- maybe Lance from high school is now Lisa!

I'm glad I don't have much spam anymore except for weirdoes emailing me occasional stuff.
I suppose the spammers tend to be the weirdest and creepiest of people. Glad they're getting busted by that sleuthing patient man.
CD