Spam Regulation: Attention

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attention

This page comments on spam in the 'attention economy'.

There is no point spamming people if recipients do not open the messages to discover the offers of bling, personal enhancement oportunities, joint venture deals with inept Indian outsourcers or deals with the supposed scion of sundry Middle Eastern kleptocrats.

Spammers encourage recipients to view their messages (and seek to evade spam filters) through message headers that appeal to the potential reader's -

greed, eg 'Congratulations: You have Won' or 'Investment Opportunity
desperation, eg 'Loan Offer' or 'Wipe Out Your Debts'
courtesy and professionalism, eg 'Get Back to me', 'Our Meeting' or 'Re: Your call'
curiosity
insecurity

Appeals to curiosity reflect the Search Terms highlighted elsewhere on this site, offering a view of what is momentarily preoccupying the 'collective mind' or is otherwise likely to gain a moment's attention.

What makes people click on links within spam? One perspective is provided in the 2008 paper 'Spamalytics: An Empirical Analysis
of Spam Marketing Conversion' (PDF) by Chris Kanich, Christian Kreibich, Kirill Levchenko, Brandon Enright, Geoffrey Voelker, Vern Paxson & Stefan Savage

news

Pseudo 'news' headers in spam over the first six months of 2008 (in the run up to the Beijing Olympics and US Presidential Election) thus included earthquakes, floods and tsunamis -

Statue of Liberty struck by lightning, catches fire
Stonehenge damaged by massive earthquake
Shanghai devastated by massive earthquake
Beijing devastated by massive earthquake
The capital of China were collapsed by earthquake
A new deadly catastrophe in China
A new massive quake struck China
Countless victims of earthquake in China
Terrible earthquake devastated Beijing
Massive death toll feared in Chinese earthquake
the most powerful quake hits China
China is parylized by new earthquake
2008 Olympic Games are under the threat
The massive disaster leveled the center of Beijing to the ground
China's most deadly earthquake
Chinese people are horrified by new earthquake
major earthquake hits London
major flood devastes [sic] London
tsunami devastates Hong Kong
tsunami destroys Sydney

deaths and other departures -

Star Trek Actor Dies
leading Hollywood actor dies
US President shot
Obama Shot
Obama bows out of presidential race
Hillary Shot
Hilary Shot
Clinton shot in public
Australian Prime Minister shot
Australian Prime Minister dies
Australian president shot
Pope shot
Pope killed by assasin [sic] in Vatican City [at a time when he was in Sydney]
Dalai Lama shot
Queen shot
Prince William shot
Prince William killed
Bill Gates shot
Bill Gates shot dead
Tom Cruise shot
Tom Cruise killed
Tom Cruise killed in plane crash
Freak accident causes Tom cruise to be paralysed
Michael Jackson dies in bed
Michael Jackson comits suicide [sic]
Jacko commits suicide
Serial killer on the loose
China fires missle [sic] at Taiwan
American hostages beheaded in Colombia
Elton John dies in rocket ship

and gossip -

Hillary Clinton reveals husband's scandal secrets
Obama's secret past
McCain's secret past
Tom Cruise's Baby
Katie Holmes Baby
Tom Cruise Divorce
Tom Cruise breakdown
Tom Cruise Arrested
Michael Jackson arrested

anger

Some spammers have encouraged recipients to open messages by using an insulting heading, with "What a stupid face you have" being popular in mid-2008. The intention is that the recipient will open the 'stupid-face' messages and click on a video.exe file that supposedly is a video clip but actually links to a malware site that will add the unwary victim's computer to a spam botnet.

h

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