back to article US health-care debate clogged world's inboxes

When the US debates health care reform, the world's inboxes get clogged with health-related spam. A recent report (PDF) by security firm MX Logic indicates nearly 70 per cent of spam in August was related to the topic of health. August was the month that saw the debate over proposals to reform US health coverage rage, as …

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  1. Sarah Baucom
    Stop

    Not about the debate

    Health/pharmacy spams have always been on top. It's not caused by the US Healthcare debate. Without past numbers, there's no way to tell if the healthcare debate has changed the face of spam or not. The linked PDF says that July actually saw a drop in health related spams, and the debate was going on then too.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Do you know how many protestors they got?

    About 50, for all the fake grass roots and attempts to shout down meetings and threaten people with loaded guns, the 22nd August march that Fox and Friends promoted so heavily got almost no people fooled.

    The background to this fake grass roots campaign:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct--N3hJfxs

    And their claimed turnouts, if you follow their video links you can get a truer estimate of the actual turnout which was tiny:

    http://recessrally.com/

    So that spam came from a few people with lots of spam money behind them.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re AC

    The article didn't say anything about the spam being about the debate. The article merely stated that health related spam was quite high, and there is a health debate going on in this country. It's probably mostly pill spam, which is quite common period. So, while that spam no doubt came from a few point with lots of money behind them, it has nothing to do with any side of the health care financing debate.

  4. Apocalypse Later

    @AC 31st August 2009 16:13 GMT

    Missing the point big time- "health" spam is about selling cheap (possibly dodgy) medicines, not political proselytizing. In my view, the article makes to strong a link between the spam activity (which is endemic) and current political debate. Spam, especially when used to distribute malware, often sports a hot current topic as its title, in order to exploit the interest generated by other media, but the contents seldom have any relation to the topic. That's about all that's going on here.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lock & Load!

    You will have to prise my American health care insurance from my cold, dead hands.

    Bring on the willy pill spam, anything else is just socialism.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Megaphone

    RE: Do you know how many protestors they got?

    By Anonymous Coward Posted Monday 31st August 2009 16:13 GMT --- all the fake grass roots attempts

    You mean like all of those old anti-war rallies, which mysteriously stopped, once Democratic President Obama was elected to office?

    It seems like the United States is still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan! LOL!

    Pretty fake. If it was really about the wars, protests would be continuing.

    By Anonymous Coward Posted Monday 31st August 2009 16:13 GMT --- attempts to shout down meetings

    The alliance against Socialism is broad in the United States...

    From very upset elderly people

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8UjY3YDlwA

    To very rational elderly people

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM64ABmhXXs

    By Anonymous Coward Posted Monday 31st August 2009 16:13 GMT --- threaten people with loaded guns

    In the places where it was legal to carry, all people could carry - the only one threatened was the people who did not attend.

    By Anonymous Coward Posted Monday 31st August 2009 16:13 GMT --- So that spam came from a few people with lots of spam money behind them.

    I bet you were one of those Red Communists turning in your non-socialist neighbor to flag@whitehouse.gov, right?

  7. Player_16
    Dead Vulture

    @ AC 16:13

    What are you on about to produce such dribble? Lay off the email Meth; it's not helping.

    @ AC - Lock & Load!

    Cold, dead hands. If that's what happened when you DO have insurance well I think you should've read the fine print on the policy or you let it run out.

  8. Moss Icely Spaceport
    Coat

    Americans, free health cover...

    Click here....

  9. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Remember if...

    ... Steven hawkins was english and dependent of the NHS he would be dead today. Ofcause he IS english and the NHS has given him many lifesaving treatments but thats besides the point... or something....

    (Fail is for the American private based health care)

  10. EvilJason
    Flame

    So...

    If 94.9 per cent of all emails sent are spam how much bandwidth is been wasted by useless unwanted mails?

    How much pollution is been made to make and send these spams?

    If someone can calculate and post the total waste both virtual and real that spam makes maybe it will open peoples eyes and get something done about it.

  11. David Halko
    FAIL

    I bet...

    I bet all of the unsolicited Viagra email is considered US health-care spam...

  12. Solomon Grundy

    Penis Pills

    Are they counting those as "health related"?

    I'm pretty sure this story missed the point and was written by someone with an order to "turn out something".

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