Does getting porn spam mean that you've been surfing porn sites?

A client recently asked: Why does my wifes email get hit with xxx rated "chat ads"? mine doesn't ever...would you have had to visit a site of that type or signed up etc. to be getting those kind of ads?

To the relief of those whose partners have asked (or accused) something along the same lines the answer is an unequivocal no.

Getting porn spam doesn't mean you've been visiting porn. They're unrelated, and I'll explain why.

When you visit a web site - like my blog! for example - you don't provide you email address to view what's on the site. You can view all the pages here and aside from an IP address, which tells me almost nothing, I have no idea who you are. I couldn't email you if I wanted to.

The same is true for porn, or any other web site for that matter. There's just no way for them to email you unless you somehow give them your email address. And they do ask, sometimes a lot!

Now of course ... you might. For example, you might sign up for my newsletter, and I'll send that to you once in a while.

I'm sure that the porn industry has similar products - newsletters, subscription sites, discussion forums - all of which might require that you provide an email address. And yes, once you give them your email address they will probably start sending you email.

In the worst case, they might also give your email address to someone else who'll start sending you email. (For the record, I do not.) And some or all of that might look like spam, including porn spam.

Porn and other shady industries on the web are also notorious for trying to infect your machine with viruses and malware that in turn could grab your email address from your email program - along with everyone in your contact list. That could land you on spammers lists.

But just surfing web sites - and doing so with appropriate anti-malware precautions and common sense - doesn't give them that information. If you haven't provided your information, they have no real way to know how to email you.

So why are you getting porn spam?

The same reason you're getting any spam: it happens. Most people get spam. Some more than others, but most all do.

At some point your email address made it onto a list of email addresses used by a spammer. That list may have been sold to another spammer, and sold to another, and another and another until your email address might be on several spammer's lists. Some of those might be drug spammers, some who send phishing attempts, and others who want to help you increase the size of certain body parts.

And of course some might be porn spammers.

But that's all unrelated to where you've been. It's more related to how visible your email address has been, and whether or not you've responded to (accidentally or otherwise) spam in the past by clicking on a link or replying. Once spammers realize that an email address is valid and reaches a real person, they prioritize sending spam in your direction.

So, no, if your spouse, child, partner, friend, employee or whomever starts getting porn spam it doesn't mean they did anything related to it.

It doesn't mean that they are surfing porn.

Just like the lack of spam doesn't mean they haven't been.