] The flood of unsolicited messages sent over the Internet
] is growing so fast that spam may soon account for half of
] all U.S. e-mail traffic, making it not only a
] hair-pulling annoyance but also an increasing drain on
] corporate budgets and possibly a threat to the continued
] usefulness of the most successful tool of the computer
] age.
]
] Spam continues to defy most legal and technical efforts
] to stamp it out. The surge has spurred calls for national
] legislation, but deep divisions remain regarding what
] constitutes spam and how best to regulate it. In the
] meantime, spammers, Internet providers, company network
] administrators and anti-spam vigilantes are locked in a
] ferocious electronic arms race.
]
] Many spammers have become so adept at masking their
] tracks that they are rarely found. They are so
] technologically sophisticated that they adjust their
] systems on the fly to counter special filters and other
] barriers thrown up against them. They can even
] electronically commandeer unprotected computers, turning
] them into spam-launching weapons of mass production.
]
] "The spammers are evil folks," said Matt Korn, America
] Online Inc.'s vice president for network operations. "As
] hard as we're working, they are working 24 hours a day.
] That's the level to which this battle has escalated."