The New York Times writes today that the "Internet Is Losing Ground in Battle Against Spam." The article runs through the growing problem of spam, people's attempts to deal with it, the problems with these attempts, and the devious ways that spammers get around any (temporary) solutions.
The article lists the reasons that the spam problem has grown:
The Internet e-mail system, designed to be flexible and open, is fundamentally so trusting of participants that it is easy to hide where an e-mail message is coming from and even what it is about. . . . The microscopic cost of sending e-mail, compared with the price of postal mailings, allows senders to make money on products bought by as little as one recipient for every 100,000 e-mail messages.
Another problem is the unthinking trust that people sometimes have when online: "Many people still will type virtually their life history into an unknown Web site that claims to be offering a chance to win a Lexus."
And then there are these final words from the spammers:
"These antispammers should get a life," she said. "Do their fingers hurt too much from pressing the delete key? How much time does that really take from their day?"
By contrast, she said, "70 million people have bad credit. Guess what? Now I can't get mail through to them to help them."