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==Overview== At the beginning of the Internet (the [[ARPANET]]), sending of commercial email was prohibited.<ref name="Stacy1982">{{cite web |last1=Stacy |first1=Christopher |title=Getting Started Computing at the AI Lab |url=https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/41180/AI_WP_235.pdf?sequence=4 |publisher=MIT |access-date=2018-10-15 |archive-date=2019-03-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323132534/https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/41180/AI_WP_235.pdf?sequence=4 |url-status=live }}</ref> Gary Thuerk [[History of email spam|sent the first email spam message]] in 1978 to 600 people. He was reprimanded and told not to do it again.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080628205216/http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-spam11may11001420,1,5168218,full.story Opening Pandora's In-Box].</ref> Now the ban on spam is enforced by the [[Terms of Service]]/[[Acceptable use policy|Acceptable Use Policy]] (ToS/AUP) of internet service providers (ISPs) and peer pressure. Spam is sent by both otherwise reputable organizations and lesser companies. When spam is sent by otherwise reputable companies it is sometimes referred to as ''Mainsleaze''.<ref name="levine">{{cite web |first=John |last=Levine |website=Internet and e-mail policy and practice |title=The Mainsleaze Blog |url=https://jl.ly/Email/mainsleaze.html |date=October 18, 2011 |access-date=April 1, 2019 |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401221513/https://jl.ly/Email/mainsleaze.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Catherine |last=Jefferson |title=What is Mainsleaze Spam? |website=The Mainsleaze Blog |url=http://mainsleaze.spambouncer.org/ |access-date=April 1, 2019 |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401221515/http://mainsleaze.spambouncer.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Mainsleaze makes up approximately 3% of the spam sent over the internet.<ref name="spambounncer">{{cite web |first=Catherine |last=Jefferson |title=Companies that spam, and ESPs that help them |website=The Mainsleaze Blog |url=http://mainsleaze.spambouncer.org/ |access-date=April 1, 2019 |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401221515/http://mainsleaze.spambouncer.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ===Spamvertised sites=== Many spam emails contain URLs to a website or websites. According to a [[Cyberoam]] report in 2014, there are an average of 54 billion spam messages sent every day. "Pharmaceutical products (Viagra and the like) jumped up 45% from last quarter's analysis, leading this quarter's spam pack. Emails purporting to offer jobs with fast, easy cash come in at number two, accounting for approximately 15% of all spam email. And, rounding off at number three are spam emails about diet products (such as Garcinia gummi-gutta or Garcinia Cambogia), accounting for approximately 1%."<ref name="cyberoam">{{cite press release|title=Q1 2014 Internet Threats Trend Report|publisher=Sophos Cyberoam |url=http://www.cyberoam.com/downloads/ThreatReports/CyberoamCYRENInternetThreats2014April.pdf|access-date=2015-11-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224144803/http://www.cyberoam.com/downloads/ThreatReports/CyberoamCYRENInternetThreats2014April.pdf|archive-date=24 February 2021}}</ref> {{Main|Phishing}} Spam is also a medium for [[fraudster]]s to [[scam]] users into entering personal information on fake Web sites using emails forged to look like they are from banks or other organizations, such as [[PayPal]]. This is known as ''[[phishing]]''. Targeted phishing, where known information about the recipient is used to create forged emails, is known as ''spear-phishing''.<ref name="sophos8"/>
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