Bought Any Illegal Software From A Spammer, Lately?



Bought Any Illegal Software From A Spammer, Lately?
The offer advertised in that e-mail message is awfully tempting. Microsoft Windows XP Professional for only $39? The entire Microsoft Office Professional suite for less than a few sawbucks? It’s real software, isn’t it? Well it sure is, and it’s a lot more, too.


Spammers stay in business because we’re buying their wares, and pirated software applications are one of the most popular products to be sold through spam advertising. Spam, unsolicited commercial e-mail, is not just a nuisance, but in the United States, usually illegal. Both spam and software piracy are big business: why not meld the two?

Dave’s Opinion
Here’s why you should never buy anything, especially software, from a spammer: you’re dealing with person of questionable, if not downright malformed, ethics. If the person is breaking the law (or at least the local common mores) by sending you spam, it’s not much of a stretch to think that the below-market price software he’s hawking may also be either stolen or illegally duplicated. Do you want to participate in the breaking of both national and international copyright laws by installing pirated software?

Moreover, that bonus software included with your order may just be a Trojan that turns your PC into a zombie for the spammer’s use in sending out even more spam … now you’ve become not only a pirate, but a spammer, too. Nice work.

Call for Comments
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About Todd Cochrane

Todd Cochrane is the Founder of Geek News Central and host of the Geek News Central Podcast. He is a Podcast Hall of Fame Inductee and was one of the very first podcasters in 2004. He wrote the first book on podcasting, and did many of the early Podcast Advertising deals in the podcasting space. He does two other podcasts in addition to Geek News Central. The New Media Show and Podcast Legends.