One is amazed by the creative approaches used to exploit holes and opportunities in communication systems to, say, push a message or make money fast. We’ve all been trying to fight the annoying messages that we’re used to seeing in our mailboxes and across our computer screens. Sadly, it seems that we have mostly either given up or built immunity. This persistent onslaught of tricky communications is the subject of this book. It is a story of “The Technological Drama of Spam, Community, and Attention,” as one chapter title puts it. That story is excellently told.

In three parts, reflecting the relationship between the technology and the annoyances referred to as spam (without truly knowing the etymology of the word in this context, the meat, or the Monty Python references), the author walks us (and reminds us of our past pains) through the short history that is well known to most people. The early days include 1971 to 1994, when online communities were first emerging. This first section, “Ready for the Next Message,” recounts the building of the technological infrastructure we now know as the Internet, and the emergence of rules and behaviors as we were learning to play nice to each other behind our screens. Also featured in this section are the chat rooms, trusts, and protocols of communication, and the emergence of spam online, especially via email in the form of free information and pitches such as the “Green Card Lottery.”

The second section, “Make Money Fast: 1995-2003,” refreshes our memory about get-rich-quick schemes, especially those that report needs in exotic locations, ask for cash, and promise huge paybacks (which never actually materialize, even after an initial cash intervention is transferred). While the messages from Nigeria, for example, typically sought to secretly share a questionable windfall, many people contributed to plausible sounding organizations promising to help poor people (who never actually benefited from a single dime).

The last section, “The Victim Cloud,” covers the historical period from 2003 to 2010. The ideas in these new messages are the same, but the execution is different. It seems that we have learned some lessons on how to catch it more effectively. Today, we are dealing with content farms and social spam. Most of this new content boils down to algorithmic journalism.

Despite the fascinating advances in technological infrastructures, spam has proven resilient. The forms might have changed, but the annoyances have not.

If you start this book, plan to read 200 pages before even looking up. Occasionally, some anecdote will remind you of spam incidents you have personally experienced. On a larger scale, you may appreciate the ingenuity in the continual reincarnation of spamming approaches. What is next? Who knows, really? Regardless, we will learn to deal with it, figure out ways to combat it, move on, and fight again.

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