Ex-Senator Is Spamming You

Spammers come in all shapes and sizes.  One, in particular, wears very large sneakers.

Bill Bradley, the former NBA basketball player and former U.S. Senator from New Jersey (D) and one time presidential candidate, may very well be helping to clog up your inbox with unwanted mail.

Bradley sits on the board of QuinStreet, which is identified as a major spamming firm by anti-spam organizations such as www.stop-spam.org and www.spamsuite.com.

Founded in 1999, the California based company posted revenues of $8 million last year from clients such as ADT home security, DeVry University and various dating web sites.

The company calles itself a leader in "vertical performance marketing and media," which experts say is code for something that is not only very annoying, but very possibly illegal.

One thing I've never understood is why the federal government doesn't go after these kinds of activities more aggressively. Spamming costs companies millions of dollars in wasted productivity and in added security costs. Individuals on their home computers waste hours of time wading through spam as well. With all the billions of dollars spent on things that aren't really helping the economy, and billions more spent on helping only a few companies, why not go after some of these spammers (as well as people who create viruses and other types of malware) and help everybody?