So, this is why there are so many spammers

7 October 2008

While email systems make a breeze of distributing spam messages en masse, the medium has another not so apparent benefit, it makes being deceptive or untruthful far easier. Something, seemingly, not so simple to accomplish in face-to-face, or even in handwritten, communications.

Experts have long known that it is easier to lie in writing than in real life, where deception is made more difficult by physical prompts such as eye contact. But psychological tests conducted by business professors at Rutgers, Lehigh and DePaul universities in the US found people are significantly more likely to lie in emails than in handwritten documents.

I mean, could you look someone in the eye and tell them “your pills could augment their extension”, for example? No: better you send them an email.

Originally published Tuesday 7 October 2008, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.