Kevin Cooper

COMM3

MWF 10am

Persuasive Speech Outline

I.  Introduction

1.      When I used to hear the word spam, I would think of this wonderful delicious canned meat.  Now, spam has been giving a whole new meaning.  I’m sure we have all had an experience where we log onto our email and see that we have dozens of new messages.  You might get a little excited, thinking that you have suddenly become very popular.  But then you discover that these emails are junk—offering you free Viagra, pornography, and ways to enlarge certain parts of your anatomy.  So after seeing this some of us may still be excited, but most of us probably get really annoyed.  These annoying emails are the new definition of spam.

2.      Most people do not realize that spam is more than just an annoyance; it is creating huge problems for the Internet.

3.      Today I will tell you four reasons why spam should be made illegal.  It is a huge pest to email users, it is costing providers and users a lot of money, spam filters have been ineffective, and the rapid spread of spam threatens to decrease demand for the Internet and maybe end it altogether.

4.      I have spent a lot of time researching spam its many negative effects, and while reading numerous magazine articles and journal entries I have found a lot of information about spam that may be a surprise to many people.

II.  Body

1.      Most obvious to us all, spam is a huge annoyance to email users.

a.       Spam takes extra time to sort and delete to find email that you really want.

b.      Spam can be deceptive and often tricks users into visiting pornographic websites or downloading viruses onto their computers.

2.      Spam is not just a pest, it is costing a lot of money

a.       Internet Service Providers have had to spend large amounts of money to handle the extra traffic that spam causes.  According to Mindspring Enterprises, spam has forced their company to invest in an additional 250,000 dollars of equipment.

b.      These costs get passed on to consumers raising their Internet bills considerably.  According to Netcom Online Communication Services, spam raises costs of their customer’s bill by ten percent.  Shore. net, another small ISP, states 3 dollars of their customers $12 monthly bills are because of spam—twenty-five percent.  According to PC World, America Online claims that spam is even a greater cost for users who pay based on how long they are on the Internet, and are forced to use extra time sorting and deleting these unwanted emails.

3.      Attempts to prevent or slow down spam have proven to be ineffective.

a.       Many companies are selling filters that sort and delete emails that are recognized as spam.  However, errors are very common.

b.      I have personally had an experience with spam filters and their inadequacy.

4.      If spam keeps spreading, it threatens to destroy the Internet altogether.

a.       According to Chris Owen, owner of a small ISP, spam is degrading the product that ISPs offer. <Read Quote> “The most significant damage done by spam is that it simply degrades our product,” he says. “When customers’ mailboxes fill up with spam, the usefulness of our product is decreased.  People cease to use their email addresses, and the overall demand for Internet service declines.”

b.      ISPs already notice users canceling Internet accounts because of spam and are afraid the trend will continue.  Their fears are warranted; according to a study by the Database and Network Journal by the year 2005 two of every three email messages will be spam.  Owen argues that because of these trends users will eventually lose interest into the Internet, and when there is no interest in it then it may some day even cease to exist.

III.  Conclusion

1.      So now it obvious to us all that spam is a huge problem and needs to made illegal before it is too late.  Not only is it extremely annoying, but also is costing us a lot of money, deceives software on our computer that we purchase to stop it, and it threatens to ruin the Internet altogether.

2.      So in closing, I am going to leave you with the phone number of our local representative to Congress, and also an address to contact him online. And next time you log onto your email account and are bombarded with spam, take a moment to contact our representative and say that you are concerned with the amount of spam you are receiving and that you support legislation making spam illegal.  If you take just a few minutes to do this, you can help encourage a change that is desperately needed, before it is too late.