TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Vioxx Unseats Porn in List of Top 2004 Junk Email

Vioxx Unseats Porn in List of Top 2004 Junk Email

Lisa Minter (lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com)
Wed, 29 Dec 2004 16:05:12 EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Porn ads slipped down the list of top junk
e-mails in 2004, replaced by offers for arthritis drug Vioxx, ID theft
scams and stock pick information, America Online said.

Although "HOT LESBIAN ACTION" made the list of most frequently sent
junk e-mails, or spam, lurid displays of pornography are now more
easily blocked by filters offered by AOL and other Internet service
providers.

Harder to block were the ubiquitous penis enlargement ads that were
classified as online medication and not as sex ads. Porn ads were
defined as "strictly skin and sex," an AOL spokesman said.

Spam has also changed considerably and now features deceptively simple
text messages and Web addresses that link to sites, according to AOL,
the world's largest Internet service provider and a unit of Time
Warner Inc.

Junk e-mail senders have also gotten more sophisticated and are now
generally controlled by several top "king pin spammers," the company
said.

"This year's list was tilted more toward fraudulent and dubious scams
and schemes," said AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham. And despite the
decrease in volume, the ads were "much more malicious and harmful to
consumers."

AOL on Tuesday said junk e-mails received by its subscribers had
dropped 75 percent, largely due to better built-in filters and blocks,
based on a poll of complaints it compiled.

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[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I thought Vioxx was removed from the
market after they discovered how dangerous it was, causing death
and/or heart attacks in many cases. And I have not seen nearly as
much Vioxx email as I have seen Viagra and penis enlargement ads.
PAT]

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