Spam Lit
Encyclopedia
Spam Lit is defined as snippets of nonsensical verse
and prose
embedded in spam
e-mail
messages. Some of the snippets are original content, others are passages from public domain
works (such as Edgar Allan Poe
and The Bible), and others are conglomerations of several creative public domain
works, which are often copied from the internet. Spam lit is included in spam emails selling or purporting to sell a products such as software, male enhancement pills, and computers.
A spammer often sends one spam message to millions of mailboxes, and if only a tiny fraction of the recipients purchase the products sold by the spammer, in percentage terms a large number of purchases and hence profit are made. On these grounds alone, it would be worthwhile for a spammer to create email texts from random literary texts.
However, Spam Lit exists primarily for a more insidious reason: to circumvent the powerful spam filters developed by major email providers such as Google
, Yahoo, AOL
. These spam filters recognize the characteristics of typical spam messages and automatically delete them.
To circumvent spam filtering, the spammer creates a Spam Lit e-mail, which might include an image (which the spam bots cannot detect) with the product name, the Spam Lit text, and a link, which directs the recipient to the spammer's choice of website
.
first coined the term in a subject line followed by this message:
However, email recipients began noticing a spike in Spam Lit starting in late 2005 and continuing throughout 2007.
In August 2006, David Kestenbaum of NPR
's Morning Edition
broadcast a story on what he termed "Literary Spam." According to Kestenbaum, Paul Graham, a programmer
is indirectly responsible for the current Spam Lit dilemma. Graham noticed that spammers were circumventing spam filters by purposely misspelling key words, for example replacing "I" with "1" in the word "click." According to Kestenbaum, Graham "wrote a program to find out how to best separate spam
from real e-mail. To train it, he fed it a good helping of spam and a separate sample of real e-mail."
Graham discovered that his 50-line code
eliminated 99% of his own spam. Soon, however, spammers discovered the works of long-dead poets and writers as yet another way to circumvent Graham's anti-spam code.
Modern poets often refer to Spam Lit as "Found poetry
" and prose and sometimes even incorporate these snippets into their own work. In 2007, Post Foetry, a blog, announced a Spam Lit Project in which writers could submit their own Spam Lit creations (albeit without ads).
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
and prose
Prose
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...
embedded in spam
Spam (electronic)
Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
messages. Some of the snippets are original content, others are passages from public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
works (such as Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
and The Bible), and others are conglomerations of several creative public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
works, which are often copied from the internet. Spam lit is included in spam emails selling or purporting to sell a products such as software, male enhancement pills, and computers.
Why Spam Lit
Initially, recipients of emails containing spam lit believed that the mails were a form of "keyword spamming".A spammer often sends one spam message to millions of mailboxes, and if only a tiny fraction of the recipients purchase the products sold by the spammer, in percentage terms a large number of purchases and hence profit are made. On these grounds alone, it would be worthwhile for a spammer to create email texts from random literary texts.
However, Spam Lit exists primarily for a more insidious reason: to circumvent the powerful spam filters developed by major email providers such as Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, Yahoo, AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
. These spam filters recognize the characteristics of typical spam messages and automatically delete them.
To circumvent spam filtering, the spammer creates a Spam Lit e-mail, which might include an image (which the spam bots cannot detect) with the product name, the Spam Lit text, and a link, which directs the recipient to the spammer's choice of website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
.
History and reactions
The Spam Lit phenomenon seems to have first been noticed on September 20, 2002, on listserv.buffalo.edu . A member of the Poetics listservLISTSERV
LISTSERV was the first electronic mailing list software application, consisting of a set of email addresses for a group in which the sender can send one email and it will reach a variety of people...
first coined the term in a subject line followed by this message:
- "I'm still thinking about the ramifications of literature and art created with the delete button in mind. Jess (Glass)"
However, email recipients began noticing a spike in Spam Lit starting in late 2005 and continuing throughout 2007.
In August 2006, David Kestenbaum of NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
's Morning Edition
Morning Edition
Morning Edition is an American radio news program produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It airs weekday mornings and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 05:00 to 09:00 ET, with feeds and updates as required until noon...
broadcast a story on what he termed "Literary Spam." According to Kestenbaum, Paul Graham, a programmer
Programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...
is indirectly responsible for the current Spam Lit dilemma. Graham noticed that spammers were circumventing spam filters by purposely misspelling key words, for example replacing "I" with "1" in the word "click." According to Kestenbaum, Graham "wrote a program to find out how to best separate spam
E-mail spam
Email spam, also known as junk email or unsolicited bulk email , is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by email. Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk. One subset of UBE is UCE...
from real e-mail. To train it, he fed it a good helping of spam and a separate sample of real e-mail."
Graham discovered that his 50-line code
Code
A code is a rule for converting a piece of information into another form or representation , not necessarily of the same type....
eliminated 99% of his own spam. Soon, however, spammers discovered the works of long-dead poets and writers as yet another way to circumvent Graham's anti-spam code.
Literary uses of Spam Lit
Some recipients of Spam lit believe that the texts possess a certain elegant and ephemeral quality, noting that even the "merged" pieces often make some kind of sense.Modern poets often refer to Spam Lit as "Found poetry
Found poetry
Found poetry is a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing and/or lines , or by altering the text by additions and/or deletions...
" and prose and sometimes even incorporate these snippets into their own work. In 2007, Post Foetry, a blog, announced a Spam Lit Project in which writers could submit their own Spam Lit creations (albeit without ads).