Most of us have to deal with spam on a daily basis. Spam Kings is a book that documents some of the bizarre and annoying practices of spammers. It also talks about the people who fight them, from individuals to lawyers and politicians. The most interesting part, however, is the actual pictures and lives of the spammers. Most come from some pretty shady backgrounds. One of the most notorious is a neo-nazi who goes by the name Davis Hawke. Even though AOL won a 12.8 million dollar lawsuit against him for sending spam to their customers, he still seems to be active in the spamming world.
Spamming is in a sense cold calling, and in a sense it works – one guy made a million dollars selling those wretched penis enlargement pills through spam. We all think no one would be crazy enough to respond to spam emails like that, but some do. The last thing I would want is to see anyone become a spammer, but the point is that like cold calling, if you knock on enough doors or send enough emails, some people will bite. In cold calling, you have to face the rejection. In spamming, you don’t face rejection, rather lawsuits and the wrath of antispamming groups. (Unfortunately, most spammers are not the kind of people who care about such things).
I’ve always wondered how spamming worked. It seemed absurd to me that anyone would buy the stuff advertised by spam, but it must work, or spammers wouldn’t do it. I guess it often preys on people’s insecurities (penis enlargement, miracle diet pills, etc.), and desperation is a strong motivator.