* A new spam menace that could put receivers in jail
Almost all of us are negatively affected by spam. It saps productivity, it costs enterprises huge sums every year in extra storage and bandwidth, it slows mail delivery, it requires enterprises to deploy and manage spam-blocking technology – and now it might land you in jail.
A 22-year-old Australian student was recently convicted of possessing images of child pornography that he received via e-mail. Although the student never opened the images and by all accounts believed that they were pictures of a heavy metal band, he was convicted for simply storing these images on his computer. Although the student was given a suspended sentence, he could have been sent to prison for five years.
This isolated incident represents perhaps the most destructive impact that spam can have on an individual or an organization, and it might represent a trend akin to malicious attacks wrought by hackers. What happens if a disgruntled individual sends this kind of content to his or her spouse during a nasty divorce proceeding? What about a terminated employee sending this kind of content to his ex-boss? The possibilities are frightening.
If this type of behavior increases – and, admittedly, this is a big “if” – it could dramatically alter the landscape of e-mail. Attachments might never be accepted by some e-mail users (I sent an e-mail message with an attachment containing survey results to someone yesterday and was informed by the individual that ‘Sorry, but I do not accept attachments of any kind’). Companies might stop accepting attachments for all of their users until they can be assured that such damaging content cannot be received. To be sure, pornography-filtering technology will become much more important to enterprises.
I’d like to get your thoughts on this issue, particularly with respect to the importance of the Australian case. Was it an isolated incident, or will it become more commonplace? Drop me a line at mailto:michael@ostermanresearch.com (without attachments, please).
