The list of links at the right will open a new browser window, and present the results of a
"search" for Bulk Email services advertising on those respective search engines.
You'll find "Paid Listings" from companies advertising Spam-for-hire. If you've read any of your spam, you'll probably even recognize a few of these.
You have to sustain most of the costs of the spam industry, right? (See "Costs" below)
So, clicking on any "Sponsored" link will incur a charge to that advertiser. If a million surfers were to click on any given link, that advertiser would have a hefty bill. Possibly enough to put many spammers out of business.
Even though it's highly unlikely that your click will put them out of business, you will get some small feeling of satisfaction knowing that now you've "Billed The Spammer" -- and cost that bulk email marketer cash out of their pockets. At some of these pages, you'll even be able to SEE how much it cost them.
Why so many links? The pay-per-click servers are smart enough to know that if there are more than one click on any given link, within a given time span, from the same person surfing, then only one click counts. However, one person, clicking to fifteen different pay-per-click search engine pages incurs fifteen separate charges. And it's okay to play again tomorrow!
We've provided the most important links at the top of the list. Each will open a new browser window -- and as soon as you see the advertisers' web address appear in your location line, you've clicked the pay-per-click counter. Simply CLOSE the window.
* Turn off your Cookies many of these are spam sites themselves
* Empty the Cache give it all the memory you've got
* Clear the History Often don't let them know where you came from.
With these safe surfing rules you can have a good time
When is enough, enough? Those who are particularly fed up with spam can open as many of those windows as their memory, browser and dial-up can stand. There's a setting in your browser config that lets you set the number of simultaneous connections you can make. Go ahead... make your day.
When is enough, enough? When you've appeased your personal "pay back" quota.
The cost-per-click model is simple, (also called pay-per-click) the advertiser pays for every click a search engine sends to their domain. You'll notice in a moment that those who pay the most generally get listed at the top of the search results pages. Generally their ads will portray the most persuasive features of their services like "legal Opt-In" or "Completely Safe". Some will even brag how many millions of spams they can send.
The most prolific "spam-for-hire" companies are making so much money, they can afford to openly 'advertise' their services to bring in more clients -- and thereby send more spam.
The spam industry works on this basic principle: send spam for nothing, the receiver has to pay for
* Bandwidth (YOU are paying to receive this spam, not the spammer.)
* Storage (holding it on their ISP's server and the victim's computer.)
* Management (doing something with it once it arrives)
This all adds up to expense in time and money out of your pocket, and out of the pocket of your ISP. We know one ISP that has attributed nearly $90,000 to protect his small, local customer base from spam. Just call up your ISP and ask how much money spam costs them. Understand that they have to pass those costs along to their dial-up customers. Which means YOU.
The spammer's cost is basically nonexistent, per email, once the bandwidth account is paid. The typical server on a DSL pop can probably send 100,000 spams an hour. On a T1 or T3, they can mount dozens of servers and multiply that factor many thousands of times over.
So, unlike radio, newspaper, TV or direct mail, spammers can send advertisements to millions of people at virtually no cost. This is why you see so many low-lifes, losers and down right criminals in the spam business. And they've become professionals at it.
While you have them on the phone, tell them to Black List" every SMTP IP address that sends spam. It's one way the industry can actually regulate itself, and finally put a true end to unsolicited email (UCE), unsolicited bulk email (UBE) and the evil plague we all know as "spam".