"A commission appointed by Gov. Jim Gilmore has recommended imposing criminal and civil penalties, including possible jail terms, for sending spam using Internet service providers based in Virginia."
Matt Richtel, "Virgina Panel Recommends Tough New Penalties on Spam, The New York Times
Spam originally meant "flooding a [Usenet] newsgroup with irrelevant or inappropriate messages" (
The Jargon File). This original sense derived from the overuse of the word "spam" in a sketch performed by Monty Python's Flying Circus. The sketch begins as follows:
Mr. Bun: Morning.
Waitress: Morning.
Mr. Bun: Well, what you got?
Waitress: Well, there's egg and bacon; egg, sausage
and bacon; egg and spam; egg, bacon and spam; egg,
bacon, sausage and spam; spam, bacon, sausage and
spam; spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam; spam,
sausage, spam, spam, spam, bacon, spam, tomato and
spam; spam, spam, spam, egg and spam; (Vikings start
singing in background) spam, spam, spam, spam, spam,
spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam...
In recent years, the use of "spam" expanded to include unsolicited commercial e-mail. In case you don't know,
spam is a luncheon meat consisting of compressed pork shoulder with a bit of ham tossed in. It is produced by
Hormel Foods who even have an
Official Spam Home Page.