mediajunk

Microsoft claims that, in its analysis of one billion web pages, eight per cent were spam (a.k.a. "index spam" or "search engine spam" -- as opposed to email spam. See my article in the Sunday Business Post for a more detailed explanation). I believe that Microsoft's estimate is quite conservative. I do not believe the researchers that form part of its much-anticipated entry into the search market are up to speed on what constitutes spam. At least, that's my impression after reading about how they identified spam pages: "Microsoft is incorporating a new filtering technology into its forthcoming MSN Search technology, aiming to offer results clear of web spam. "The company unveiled a research project at its Silicon Valley campus in Mountain View which uses statistical analysis to locate spam web pages." Clear of web spam? Yeah, right. Clearly, they have no clue. As long as there is email, there will be email spam. And as long as there is a web...