My one request for 2007

Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that spam has doubled in 2006. I can certainly attest to that. In fact, an address I setup a month ago for the Gift Exchange, has been hit with nearly 200 spam messages a day. I am sure this fresh address was worth a lot. In fact, the first spam I received, included the following information:

With over 100,000 microfibers per square inch, this towel is "one of the heaviest in the industry in this size class".

For further information or to place an order call Toll Free: 877-356-6455 This is a limited time offer so Call Now!
Jenlis Inc email: jenlisinc@yahoo.com
Place your order today! 877-356-6455

So I gave this company a call. The owner said that he hired a firm to find e-mail addresses of people who would be interested in his microfiber towels. And so I asked him why my giftexchange mailbox would be interested in this. He had no answer. I told him that I am sure he will receive other calls as well from other pissed off people.

Then I look at this CenterNetworks site. Started in 1999, I created a mailbox, "copy@c..n.com". When I decided in 2002 to put CN on hold while I decide where to move it to next, I turned the email address off. When I turned CN back on this year, the spam started again to a point of receiving over 500 a day.

I don't know about you, but dealing with spam takes time out of a person's day. Thousands of spam messages a day to delete, to remove, to deal with. How many real messages are lost because of filters, or because of accidental deletion? Counting everything I could today, I had to deal with 1,841 spams. This only includes ones I know about and those that get past my filters.

So with that, I have one request for 2007, let's put an end to spam. And not a "patch it with Akismet" deal, but a real effort to combat it. I have some thoughts about why the government does not step in but I won't go there.

Look at all we have accomplished this year. The collective intelligence is just amazing. Now, let's figure out how to end this spam epidemic before it becomes a disease on Web 2.0. The initial x-rays already show something.

So maybe 2007 Time Magazine Person of the Year will be a thing in 2007 and that thing will be...