Spamming isn't just for e-mails anymore

Spammers are now clogging blogs, cells, instant messages

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Three years ago, Adam Kalsey set up a Web log to share his thoughts about online business and the digital revolution. Like countless other "bloggers," he lets his readers post comments on his entries.

Recently, his site has been getting remarks like "Thanks for the information!" and "Sounds great!" They're not from supporters, but from people — or machines — who leave names like "Generic Viagra," "Online Gambling" and "Free Poker" and links to unsavory sites.

Spam has never been limited to e-mail. But now, commercial pitches are increasingly popping up in online chats, instant messages, cell phones with text messaging and, as Kalsey found, Web log comments.

Spammers are flocking to new communications tools like moths to light, threatening to cripple these tools just as they are beginning to take off.

Howard Rheingold, a futurist who predicts always-on communication will revolutionize public discourse, is worried that all these new forms of spam could freeze the revolution in its tracks.

There will be no great social transformation if cell phones are turned off, instant messenger programs shut down or blog comments disabled to halt the flow of offers for online porn or cheap drugs.

"It forces you to either turn off the comments and lose some of the value of the medium, or spend your time deleting spam," said Rheingold, who runs his own blog.

Today, most of the attention of lawmakers has been on e-mail spam, which is estimated to comprise nearly half of e-mail traffic. Attempts to write broader laws have not succeeded and might whittle away at free speech.

"We ought to be legislating general concepts — things like, you can't market to somebody who's asked you not to," said David Sorkin, a professor who studies spam laws at John Marshall Law School. "But in the case of spam in particular, that hasn't really worked."

It's possible legislation targeting unwanted e-mail could be used to fight other unwanted communication; text messages on cell phones often originate from e-mail. Laws limiting telemarketing also might be useful. But that assumes the legislation will work, and that spammers won't move outside the law.

Kalsey, a Web consultant who lives near Sacramento, Calif., has taken matters into his own hands. In fact, many of his comments of late have focused on combatting Web log spam, including the creation of a "Comment Spam Manifesto."

"What you failed to understand is that bloggers are smarter, better connected and more technologically savvy than the average e-mail user," it reads, addressing the spammers. "We control this medium that you are now attempting to exploit. You've picked a fight with us and it's a fight you cannot win."

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