Spam

Spam generally denotes unwanted electronically transmitted information. Spam appears in a variety of forms and is mainly known in the context of email. It can also appear as a banner ad, pop-up or as an advertising contribution in Internet forums. Common to all forms is that they are distracting. They may also contain links to fraudulent websites and, in the case of spam email, malicious attachments.

What does the term “spam” mean in detail?

Spam became the epitome of meaningless, annoying, repetitive information. The range of spam email is amazing. This includes unwanted advertising as well as the fake phishing emails from your bank that are designed to take you to a fraudulent website. In the best case, you and your employees will only lose the time needed to view and delete spam emails.

Electronic spam owes its name to a skit, because spam was (and is) the name of a canned meat. This canned meat was the only food in the British army that was not rationed during the Second World War. So spam was in abundance and many soldiers were soon tired.

This was the basis for the “spam” skit by British comedian, Monty Python, which was broadcast in 1970 by the BBC TV channel. It’s about a café whose menu only contains spam dishes. Accordingly, the word, spam, is constantly repeated in the food recommendations of the operator. Even in the episode’s credits, the word spam is omnipresent.

Where will I encounter spam in my daily work?

You just filled out an online form to receive a free PDF. Everything had to go very fast, so there was no time for carefully checking the terms and conditions.

The working day starts and you open your email. Your inbox is overflowing with messages that you did not expect and don’t want. You delete the advertising emails, in which, among other things, floor mats, umbrellas, health insurance rates and car repair pens are being touted, in order to be able to identify the work-relevant messages, bit by bit.

The best solution for spam is:

• Delete spam emails unopened. More about dealing with possible fraud emails can be found here.
• Do not pay attention to banners, pop-ups or advertisements in internet forums, neither reply nor click. It’s best to use an ad-blocker.

What can I do to get less spam?

• Keep your email address on the company website only as an image file.
• Give your professional email address as seldom as possible and only to reputable third parties.
• If you work in a job that requires regular contact information exchange, assign a second email address for situations where you are not sure what might happen to your address.
• If you use email service providers with a good spam filter, you filter out the unwanted messages in advance. Configure it if possible.
• If some senders repeatedly cheat through the spam filters to send you unwanted advertising, you can also complain to the eco association.