Spam is unwanted electronic mail which is sent in bulk. E-mail spam involves unwanted bulk emails which are exactly the same being sent to the recipient. Email providers usually offer filters in order to help the recipient get rid of spam mail.
There is also instant messaging spam, which is sometimes known as SPIM. Many instant messaging services such as Yahoo! And MSN give users the option of ticking a box which enables them to only receive messages from the people on their contact list in order to prevent spam. Spam can also be found in blogs, mobile phones, forums, search engines etc.
It was Monty Python’s sketch involving a restaurant with only spam to eat which caused the term ‘spam’ to come about. In the sketch, the only food on the menu is spam, which is a reference to spam being one of the few foods available during the second world war.