It started to become a serious problem when the Internet was opened up to the general public in the mid-1990s and it's considered as the abuse of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages. Today spamming is prevalent on the Internet because the transactions cost of electronic communications are radically less than any optional form of communication. Spam continuously spread to new forms of electronic communication as the benefits increases to levels where the calculation "cost/benefit" gives positive results.Because the barrier to entry is so low, spammers are numerous, and the amount of unsolicited mail spreading especially online has become very high. Since spam is, by definition, unsolicited, this address harvesting is done without the permission and sometimes even against the expressed will of the address owners.Another problem is that being aware of eventual legal problems, they take advantage of this fact, and frequently move a part of their operations to countries where spamming will not get them in trouble. Spam has become major problem worldwide, since the costs the sender pay in order to send unsolicited messages are very little to while most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or network carriers.

How do they spam?

They frequently use false information such us: names, addresses, phone numbers, and many other contact informations to set up "disposable" accounts at various Internet service providers. Spammers also subscribe to discussion mailing lists for the purpose of gathering the addresses of members. This way they get more "target points" to which they can easily send unsolicited emails.

Another bad thing is that some of them are familiarized with online technology and use programs making harvesting contact informations much easier. Those programs are so-called spiders that are sent through web pages, capturing email addresses.

Why are they spamming?

Sending spam messages to potential "victims" through the internet connection is very easy nowadays and many spammers find this an effective way to increase their income chances at the lowest cost.

Spamming is also economically affordable because advertisers have actually no operating costs beyond the management of their captured mailing lists. Another factor deciding about popularity of spam is that it can be very profitable even at low response rates.

Why they should stop spamming?

The one of the areas where spamming is the most often practiced is Online business market which has already given many examples that marketers using unethical methods of promoting products(which group spam definitely falls into) usually don't succeed in the long term. The reason of that is simple - more people rather do not accept spam than deal with it, especially in business area where it comes to persistent attempts to sell the product by spammer.

There is another thing that marketers using unsolicited emailing should be afraid of - it's the public opinion.

Spammed person can easily publish over the web his negative word about the marketer practicing unethical methods, which will automatically decrease the authority,reputation and as a result can easily drive his business to the failure in the near future to come.

Spam Isn't a good way to achieve success, the ethical methods of promoting are the most important and are much more effective in building successful long term business.