Vioxx topples porn as spam king

Wednesday, December 29, 2004 Posted: 12:38 PM EST (1738 GMT)

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Porn ads slipped down the list of top junk e-mails in 2004, replaced by those hawking online Vioxx prescriptions, ID theft scams and stock pick information, America Online said.

Although "HOT LESBIAN ACTION" made the list of most frequently sent junk e-mails, or spam, lurid displays of pornography are now more easily blocked by filters offered by AOL and other Internet service providers.

The types of spam have also changed considerably and now feature deceptively simple text messages and Web addresses that link to sites, according to AOL, the world's largest Internet service provider and a unit of Time Warner Inc. CNN.com is also a unit of Time Warner Inc.

Junk e-mail senders have also gotten more sophisticated and are now generally controlled by several top "king pin spammers," the company said.

AOL on Tuesday said junk e-mails received by its subscribers had dropped 75 percent largely due to better built-in filters and blocks, based on a poll of complaints it compiled.