Spam is the use of electronic
messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages, especially advertising,
indiscriminately. While the most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam,
the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam,
Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, wiki spam, online
classified ads spam, mobile phone messaging spam, Internet forum spam, junk fax
transmissions, social networking spam, social spam, television advertising and
file sharing spam. It is named for Spam, a luncheon meat, by way of a Monty
Python sketch in which Spam is included in almost every dish.
