Spammers are likely setting their sights on instant messaging networks.
Cara Garretson, Network World
Monday, February 09, 2004
Instant-messaging spam--or spim, as it's often called--is beginning its march into the corporate world. Spim isn't nearly the headache that e-mail spam has become, largely because instant messaging isn't as ubiquitous as e-mail in corporate settings and because the closed nature of IM networks makes IM spammers easier to catch. But experts predict that unwanted IMs have the potential to wreak just as much havoc as spam.
"So far we're told by customers that [spim] is not a big problem. But we find it hard to imagine that it's not going to turn into a tremendous issue," says Sara Radicati, principal analyst at The Radicati Group. Radicati reports that 26 percent of companies are using IM as a corporate service, and that 44 percent say employees use IM but it isn't a company standard.
More: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,114642,tk,dn020904X,00.asp

Chowhound
Comic Vine
GameFAQs
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
TechRepublic