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E-mail spam, also known as "bulk e-mail" or "junk e-mail," is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by e-mail. A common synonym for spam is unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE). Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk “UCE” (unsolicited commercial e-mail).

E-mail spam slowly but exponentially grew for several decades to several billion messages a day. Spam has frustrated, confused, and annoyed e-mail users. Laws against spam have been sporadically implemented, with some being opt-out and others requiring opt in e-mail. The total volume of spam (over 100 billion emails per day as of April 2008) has leveled off slightly in recent years, and is no longer growing exponentially. The amount received by most e-mail users has decreased, mostly because of better filtering. About 80% of all spam is sent by fewer than 200 spammers. Botnets, networks of virus-infected computers, send about 80% of spam. The cost of spam is borne mostly by the recipient, so it is a form of postage due advertising.

E-mail addresses are collected from chatrooms, websites, newsgroups, and viruses which harvest users' address books, and are sold to other spammers. Much of spam is sent to invalid e-mail addresses. ISPs have attempted to recover the cost of spam through lawsuits against spammers, although they have been mostly unsuccessful in collecting damages despite winning in court.

Spam today can contain a wide array of payloads such as Malware, Viruses, Spyware and Phishing. Spam in general is frustrating, a waste of valuable time/money, and payloads can be destructive. If you would like to fight back there are two sites that can help:

KnujOn is a website that you can submit your junk mail to. KnujOn has shutdown 61,963 spaming sites so far and has another 65,508 pending. Services they offer are free but paying members, at $27 a year, do receive a private email reporting address and regular reports. KnujOn also provides other services such as brand protection.

SpamCop is another site that you can submit spam complaints to. You should read over that FAQ very carefully before using this service. The FAQ will explain what Spam is and is not and you will find this information useful before submitting complaints. SpamCop host several different services such as a blocking list that network administrators will find useful.