Before the rubble had even stopped smoking from Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C., spammers were trying to capitalize on the tragedy.
"No terrorists here! Join our porn site, turn off the TV, quit watching the crap happening in the states and join our free site!" cried one e-mail that landed in the inbox of Julie Datres of Marlboro, New Hampshire, just two hours after the initial attack.
"I can't believe people would take advantage of such a tragic situation to push porn," Datres said.
Spam is coming fast and furious in the wake of the attack. One of the most common spams has been from those offering to take donations to help victims.
The problem is that not all are what they claim to be. While some spam directs readers to the Red Cross, others merely invoke the name of the Red Cross and send surfers to a private pay site.
One spam directed recipients to a suspicious-sounding URL on a free Web server known among the anti-spam community for harboring spammers. The Web server pulled the site, which is an indication that even a server friendly to spammers has limitations in terms of propriety.
"I suspect that this was the one that put the authorities over the edge," said Tom Geller, executive director of SpamCon Foundation, which supports measures to reduce the amount of unsolicited e-mail that crosses private networks.
At least one spamming company is using the tragedy as a way to clean its mailing list, according to Joe Provo, a 10-year Internet industry veteran.
"They have sent out a spam urging people to help the Red Cross, with all the proper info for where to call and send money," he said. "But they direct people to the Red Cross donations page by way of their Web server, presumably to log the hits and make sure the users' e-mail addresses are still good -- the (e-mail address) they sent to hasn't been used by me in more than five years -- and to track users who would donate for future promotions."
And of course, products commemorating the catastrophe have popped up faster than you can hit delete.
One spam offers a "commemorative 15-mil die-cut (calling) card (that) illustrates the Statue of Liberty and Downtown New York City." Another hawks American flags which "will show the world our support for our nation." In each case, the sender offers to donate part or all of the proceeds to victims' funds.
All of this begs the question of whether unsolicited bulk e-mail is excusable during times of tragedy; after all, e-mail is the easiest way to reach the greatest number of people in the shortest amount of time.
Internet mavens who are active in the anti-spam community don't believe it is.
"Spam is never an appropriate vehicle for anyone to use for any purpose," said Ken Lucke, a business owner and anti-spammer. "It is using the resources of others disproportionately for your own purposes, good, bad or indifferent, and is therefore basically theft. Many have long held that spam, even by an organization trying to do good, is still wrong -- others have no rights to use your resources without your permission."
Whatever your feelings on the subject, if you're the recipient of a spam that cashes in on Tuesday's attack, you can forward it to the FTC at uce@ftc.gov.
The FTC urges consumers to donate only to well-established organizations like the Red Cross.
