You've got Spam!


Written by Brian McKenna



Photograph by Kaptain Kobold
This is Sandy

Hi!
My name is Sandy.
I just turned 12. For my birthday I got my very own computer!
I love my computer.

I play lots of fun games and chat with my friends. My Mom even helped my set up my very own email account.


David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
Texas is the second largest state in the USA

I email my cousins all the time.
They live way down in Texas.
Before I got my computer, I could only talk to them once in awhile.

The other day, I checked my email hoping to hear back from my cousins. When I logged on, it said that I had one new message. But It wasn’t from my cousins.

The email was from someone I didn’t know. In the subject line it said, “YOU HAVE WON A FREE I-PAD!!!! ACT NOW! THIS IS A LIMITED TIME OFFER!!!!!!!”


Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com
By Mark A. Hicks, illustrator

I was so excited!  
Just think of all the games I could play!


I quickly opened the email. I found out that all I needed to do was answer some questions. I tried to fill out all the questions, but I didn’t know some of the answers.


I asked my Mom for help. When she read my email, she wasn’t excited like I was.



Image from atom.smasher.org

My Mom said, “Sandy, this is spam.”
“No Mom” I laughed, “Spam is meat. This is an I-pad.”
“No Sandy, Spam is when someone you don’t know sends you an email trying to sell you something or get personal information from you. You can also get a computer virus .”
“How do you know that?” I asked, hoping she was wrong. I really wanted that I-pad.


Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com
by Mark A. Hicks, illustrator.

“Well First of all,” My Mom explained, “the “to:” line is blank. This means it was a mass email, sent to hundreds of people.”
“Maybe they have hundreds of I-pads” I said.

“Well I also know that spam emails use similar words. Some of these are: limited offer, act now, and free. Also, they will use too many exclamation points and they will type in all capital letters.”
“Oh...” I said softy, “my email has all of those.”
 



Photograph by Dave Morris

“Yes it does, but the most important thing is that you don’t know this person.” My Mom turned very serious, “You should never give out personal information to people you don’t know.”

“Okay Mom, I won’t.” I said. Now I was sure I wouldn’t be getting a free I-pad.



Photograph by Jdurham

My Mom put something called a spam filter on my email. She says it will catch a lot of the spam . But I still need to be on the lookout.

I emailed my cousins and told them all about spam .
I didn’t want them to be disappointed like me.
But maybe I’ll get an I-pad for my birthday next year.


References and Citations

Cover Page- Picture of computer by William Vann

Page 3- Image of a girl and a keyboard- Photograph by Kaptain Kobold

Page 4- Map of texas- from the David Rumsey Map Collection 


Page 5-Silhouette of a girl at a computer-

Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/clip/cmpsilho.html 

Page 6- Virus warning 

Page 7- Computer in distress- Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/clip/computer.html  

Page 8- Scary stranger 

Page 9- girl on the computer

 

Resources for story:

www.spamprimer.com

http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/software/page11545.cfm