Simson Garfinkel, one of the major contributors to the MIT Technology Review blog, wrote an interesting entry at the beginning of the month, talking about a Haaretz article in which Israel's top spammer was interviewed.  Since the article was written in early January, the link is no longer valid, but there is a Google cached copy of the interview with Amir Gans, the fellow who is responsible for sending out 50% of the total volume of junk mail sent in Israel.  The 30-year old entrepreneur advertises all sorts of items, including discounted ink cartridges for printers, security systems for businesses, calendars for the new year, Plasma televisions, water filters, plans for tuition payment for students, poker clubs, luxury watches, flowers and telephones.

Not that I am trying to defend spamming, but this spammer is different than most of his fellow "spam professionals" - he updates his removal lists twice a week, and really keeps his word in not sending these 77k plus addresses any junk e-mail. He also distributes public service messages without charge, such as for instance, asking for a kidney donation for a sick person.  But what's interesting about the article are the details such as how he gets e-mail addresses to add to his lists, or gets lists of people who have already purchased at least one product from a spammer.  It is a great insight into foreign spamming.