Spam

1. Software model: Several software-based anti-spam solutions are available that you load on a dedicated server or right on your e-mail server.

2. Appliance model: In anti-spam solutions, the appliance acts as sort of an e-mail firewall, in that it logically is placed between the Internet and enterprise mail server(s). The anti-spam appliance examines every incoming mail message and, using a list of filtering rules, makes a pass or block decision for each message. I’ll grant you that software and ASP solutions also are e-mail firewalls — it’s just that an appliance solution also looks like one.

3. ASP model: ASP stands for Application Service Provider, meaning the application resides on a computer located elsewhere, and what you’re buying is essentially a data service, in this case e-mail filtering. Antispam companies offering the ASP model perform all the spam filtering on their physical (or logical) premises, and deliver only the clean e-mail to you.

1. Email Forwarding
If you forward an email to dozens of people, make sure you send it to yourself in the To: field and put everyone else in the Bcc: field. Bcc means blind carbon copy. It's used to send a copy of the email to someone without revealing her email address. If Bcc is not used, you expose everyone's email address to dozens of other people. It's been suggested that your email can be exposed to spammers that way. I know a few public relations people who have scooped my email for press release lists when another person has failed to hide my address in the Bcc: field.

2. Website Harvesting
Programs are available that scan public address books on web-based email sites. Spammers also have software that looks for email addresses embedded in websites. If you have a personal web page, an email address you post is almost guaranteed to be found by spammers. In fact, the people who receive the most spam tend to be webmasters. After emails are harvested they are compiled into lists and sold on the Internet.

3. Dictionary Spamming
There are also programs that combine random words and common names and pop them together in an effort to come up with valid email addresses. With so many people using email, all the common

1. Spyware: I Spy with My Little App
Spyware includes programs that can record what you do on your computer and share that information with a stranger via an Internet connection. Some can watch and record your web-surfing habits. Some log everything you type. Spyware can also capture user IDs and passwords. It might have the ability to see where you have been on the Web. If there's information on your computer that is of interest to someone and can make them a little money, there's probably a spyware program to capture it.

2. Adware: Attack of the Pop-ups
Adware is equally annoying because it not only spies on you, but then it shows you ads. Some adware spies on you because its mission is to show you ads customized to your tastes, usually via pop-up ads on your computer's desktop. Sometimes adware is a legitimate part of a free program. Software publishers often bundle adware in with free programs they offer, using it as a revenue source. Many warn you of the adware during installation in the End User License Agreement, also referred to as an EULA. (That term always make me think of a slightly portly aunt that you hate to kiss but who makes good cupcakes.)

3. Snoopware: I Wanna Know What You're Up To!
Snoopware watches your computer habits on behalf of someone else, usually someone you know. This can include parental monitoring softwareprograms designed to track children's computer habits. One of the most popular uses of snoopware is to track the behavior of a spouse. Usually it's purchased by wives who suspect their husbands are up to no good on the Internet, though it can equally track wives who might be sending the pool boy spicy emails.

News from informationweek.com, that Robert Soloway facing more than 20 years in prison due to his spamming activity from 2003-2008.

Spam King Robert Alan Soloway, who owns Newport Internet Marketing Corporation, pleaded guilty on Friday in Seattle's U.S. District Court to mail and e-mail fraud and willful failure to file a tax return.

Soloway could receive up to 20 years in prison and over half a million dollars in fines when he is sentenced on June 20 by U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman. The bulk of Soloway's sentence is likely to come from the mail fraud offense, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. E-mail fraud is punishable by up to 5 years in prison. Willful failure to file a tax return is punishable by up to a year in prison

Robert Soloway is consider as one of top 10 spammer in the world, and here is the full list from spamhaus.prg

1 Leo Kuvayev / BadCow, Russian Federation
Russian/American spammer. Does "OEM CD" pirated software spam, copy-cat pharmaceuticals, porn spam, porn payment collection, etc.

E-mail spam, also known as "bulk e-mail" or "junk e-mail," is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by e-mail. A common synonym for spam is unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE). Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk.[1][2][3][4][5] "UCE" refers specifically to "unsolicited commercial e-mail."

E-mail spam has existed since the beginning of the Internet, and has grown to about 90 billion messages a day, although about 80% is sent by fewer than 200 spammers. Botnets, virus infected computers, account for about 80% of spam. Laws against spam have been sporadically implemented, with some being opt-out laws and others being opt-in. The total amount of spam has leveled off slightly in recent years. The cost of spam is borne mostly by the recipient, so it is a form of postage due advertising.