America: Land of the free, still home of the BIGGEST spammers on the planet

The US prides itself on being the best at a lot of good things. And, judging by the latest data from security vendor Sophos, America is still the best at spaffing spam in the world.

The firm’s quarterly list of countries that send spam (as opposed to hosting spamming companies) shows that the US has held on to the top spot it has held all year. In all, the US is the starting point of 14.6 per cent of the world’s emails that sell dodgy drugs, genital enhancements, and get-rich-quick schemes, as well as spreading malware.

It’s not something many Americans are proud of, but the US did invent electronic spam. Back in 1994 the first spamming came from lawyers Laurence Canter and Martha Siegel, who deluged Usenet groups with offers of immigration services. As the internet grew in popularity, spammers went industrial before ISPs and legal eagles helped crack down on the practice.

SOURCE: theregister.co.uk