Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet
TLDR: “Tedious. Very few people will find this interesting.”
This is a long look at the history of spam, in all its forms. Spam has a long history, from email to Usenet to social media to everything in between.
The book has a nice general definition of spam: an abuse of someone’s attention. So, if someone is paying attention to something else, and you take advantage of that attention by muscling in on it, that’s spam.
Thebook will really only be interesting to people with a long history with the Internet. It goes really deep into the early days, which I personally find fascinating, but I know it’s not for everyone.
It’s well-written. Almost lyrical.
Honestly, I don’t know that I got much out of it. It doesn’t have any advice or policy ideas or solutions or anything else. It’s just a nice history lesson (or reminder, depending on how old you are, I suppose).
Book Info
- I have read this book. According to my records, I completed it on .
- A hardcover copy of this book is currently in my home library.