More than sixty percent of today's email traffic is spam, according to email filtering firm Brightmail. This year alone, five trillion spam messages will clog Internet users in-boxes, costing society an estimated $10-billion in lost productivity, filtering software, and other expenses. Spam Kings: The Real Story behind the High-Rolling Hucksters Pushing Porn, Pills, and %*@)# Enlargements is the first book to expose the shadowy world of the people responsible for the junk email problem. Author and veteran investigative journalist Brian S. McWilliams delivers a compelling account of the cat-and-mouse game played by spam entrepreneurs in search of easy fortunes and those who are trying to stop them. Spam Kings chronicles the evolution of Davis Wolfgang Hawke, a notorious neo-Nazi leader (Jewish-born) who got into junk email in 1999. Using Hawke as a case study, Spam Kings traces the twenty-year-old neophyte's rise in the spam trade to his emergence as a major player in the lucrative penis pill market--a business that would eventually make him a millionaire and the target of lawsuits from AOL and others. Spam Kings also tells the parallel story of Susan Gunn, a computer novice in California who is reluctantly drawn into the spam wars and eventually joins a group of anti-spam activists. Her volunteer sleuth work puts her on a collision course with Hawke and other spammers, who try to wreak revenge on the antis. You'll also meet other cyber-vigilantes who have taken up the fight against spammers as well as the cast of quirky characters who comprise Hawke's business associates. The book sheds light on the technical sleight-of-hand--forged headers, open relays, harvesting tools, and bulletproof hosting--and other sleazy business practices that spammers use; the work of top anti-spam attorneys; the surprising new partnership developing between spammers and computer hackers; and the rise of a new breed of computer viruses designed to turn the PCs of innocent bystanders into secret spam factories.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 23 Ratings

It's A Dirty World - 2005-09-15
Reviewer Rating:
After reading this book I felt the need to take a shower.

The world of spam isn't for those who don't want to get their hands dirty... really dirty.

A unique look at the world of spamming, Brian McWilliams outlines what the life of a spammer is like, profiling a handful of spam magnates from the early 2000s (the book focuses on the years 2000-2004 when this was published), and the individuals that work on stopping them from achieving their #1 priority, separating you from YOUR money.

When you read 'Spam Kings' you will discover the lifestyle of a spammer and how/why so many e-mails get into your inbox every day promoting anything from viagra to pirated software and anything else inbetween. You will learn about why when you click the 'From' part of an e-mail you are not able to always determine where this message originated from, and how so many messages (hint: we're talking more than just millions) get delivered in such a little amount of time.

Before reading this book I had a general idea of the type of person that would send spam - what they might look like, how they act, the software used to push so many messages out, but what I was ignorant of was the type and amount of people out there fighting the flow of spam from getting into users email accounts. As much as there is a sect of individuals trying to get spam moved to your inbox, there is another group trying to get this email to never grace your eyes. Anti-spammers (as they are called) frequent discussion groups, contact spammers on their own, and manage lists that are used to make sure that ISPs don't allow spammers to even reach you as hard as they might try.

Brian McWilliams covers a lot of ground in this book, and it's a fascinating look at the underground world of spam. Whether you are a major or minor part of the computer world, this analysis is well worth a look to discover more about why there are so many spammers out there in cyberspace and why many of them are filthy rich.

The only complaint I might have with this book is it seems a bit too long (even at 333 pages) and the author bounces all over the place when he discusses different spammers throughout the book. I understand that he is trying to give many examples and track spammers movements all along the same timelines throughout the book, but it seemed a little too jumpy at times. Not enough so that a reader couldn't follow what was going on, but if a case study approach (chapter by chapter analysis of different spammers) was used instead, this might have been the better approach.

Still, an enlightening read and well worth the time to pick up.

**** RECOMMENDED

Left Me Feeling Covered In Ick - 2005-07-21
Reviewer Rating:
This is the story of spammers, and those who despise them, the anti-spammers. Basically the spammers do as they please (spam, do Joe-jobs, etc.)and enjoy their money and their power to annoy and frustrate, while the anti-spammers spend hours on-line in efforts to out the identity of the spammers. All this is good of the anti-spammers, of course if the government would get it together we wouldn't have to worry about this problem...or if people weren't so stupid as to order the stuff spammers offer.

Unfortunately, I could not muster any interest in either the spammers or anti-spammers. The spammers were, as the author stated, "arrogant" and "psychopaths," and the anti-spammers seemed quite pitiful - all wrapped up in their very time-consuming on-line battles with the disgusting spammers.

This book left me feeling as though I had eavesdropped for months on people I couldn't care less about. And although the author describes in detail the various activities that spammers engage in, it offers no help to the decent among us who would like to protect themselves from their cruel onslaught.

excellent book on spam - 2006-06-14
Reviewer Rating:
This book is a page turner. The book provides a fast-paced account of spammers and spam fighters, their business practices and respective struggles online and offline. I had picked up the book, simply because I was curious about the motivations of spammers and often wondered: What kind of a person is a spammer and who would respond to those emails and actually buy from them anyway? This book can be an eye-opener and I certainly learned a lot from it. Fun side note: A lot of supporting material is available online, as the spam wars are being fought mostly online. Chances are, you'll find yourself browsing news groups and forums to research and find out more about the various people being discussed in the book. The author also provides a blog where he discusses spam and other topics close to his book.

too long, not enough technical detail - 2005-09-06
Reviewer Rating:
Maybe I am being unkind with 3 stars. The prose style is good. The author has done plenty of research into the background of the spammers and anti-spammers and the book is an intereesting read.
At 300 pages (excluding intro, glossary, notes, index) it is too long. It could usefully have been trimmed to 200 pages.
Anyone wanting nitty-gritty technical detail is out of luck. There is almost none. [I suspect Inside the Spam Cartel is better from that point of view, but I have only glanced at it so far.]
The book is also unbalanced. Yes, spammers are awful. They make email hard to use (one of my email addresses is widely publicised and as a result I get over 100 spam/day, sometimes rising to two or three times that). They have almost wrecked a direct marketing tool that could have benefited consumers and producers alike. But civilised societies do not support lynch mobs etc, and if you read the book carefully, the anti-spammers often seem to break as many laws as the spammers (in a good cause, of course). I was reminded sometimes of the animal rights protesters in the UK (except that the anti-spammers have not physically attacked people or property).
Part of the problem is that the lawmakers seem to be technically inept - CAN-SPAM is not an inspiring achievement.

I went to high school with Hawke! - 2009-06-20
Reviewer Rating:
Quite a fun read. I've been following the downward spiral of Westwood High School's class of 1996's best known alumni since he became an internet nazi. I was a member of the class of 96 and saw Britt Greenbaum as he was then known in the library all the time. I will say, Hawke is the product of the same type of enviornment that the Columbine killers were. Outcasts do odd things. Worth a read

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