Internet spam is an overwhelming disease of the 21st century. With very elaborate devices, we go to great length to avoid seeing spam: junk-mail filters, screening services, spam databases.

SP4M. D0 Y OU SWA1LOW? attempts to turn the relationship we have with spam around. A microcontroller-based Webserver retrieves spam sent over the Internet in real time, and remotely feeds a continuous shuffled stream of it to public displays. Spam is no longer meaningless, time-consuming junk, but rather a diagnosis of cultural values and an alternate representation of societies.

SP4M Map: Overview

Spam can be defined as any unsollicited email sent to a large group of people with an intention of selling a product, service or ideology. After collecting and examining a broad range of unsollicited emails, I felt like spam can be and often is culture specific. In the U.S for instance, spam mails are typically about get rich quick schemes, pornography, illegal medication. In India, spam emails often advertise websites and services for arranged marriages. Lebanon's junk mail is predominately sent by actual medium sized and small companies recruiting or real universities offering new courses or degrees.

Also, spam has both a global and personal aspect to it. On the one hand it is universal and affects most everyone who uses the interet. On the other hand, it speaks to its public on an individual level. A person can click on "Enlarge your penis" or "Free diplomas" in complete anonymity. Hence Spam addresses concerns, needs that are otherwise taboo or sensitive issues.

--> Sp4m Map is an alternate map of the world that represents a country through its junk mail. One can examine and compare the type and subject of spam mails sent throughout the world, getting a feel of social values and desires in a culture.

A map of the world is etched on a large pannel, and several LCD screens are positioned in specific cities (here Boston, London, Beirut and Delhi). A microcontroller circuit (based on Simon Schiessl's cockroach) uses the Lantronix Xport to become internet enabled. A python program running on a server in the Computing Culture Group retrieves spam from the internet, then remotely feeds the cockroach country specific spam mails . There, a C program loaded on the AVR microcontroller processes the sentences and loops through each LCD streaming the corresponding spam.

Gallery

Images

Video

spamdoc.mov (43MB)

Technical

Hardware

. Cockroach (from the cockroach manual)

Based on high performance AVR Microcontroller- ATMega32L

Variety of connectors and headers make all pins available in different configurations

JTAG header for connecing the ICE system

External RS232 level converter

Socket version allows for easy change of microcontroller

. Lantronix

The XPort is an embeded device server that ethernet enables the cockroach. Provides HTTP, Serial, Telnet and SNMP management.

Through the XPort, the cockroach becomes accessible by telnet. This is how a spam server processes large loads of spam and feeds them to the LCD display.

Lantronix Xport datasheet

. LCD Display

A 2 x 16 alphanumeric LCD display that uses the Hitachi HD44780 LCD controller. Spam is displayed as scrolling text (like a ticker).

Hitachi HD44780 datasheet

The very first working prototype

 

Software/ Firmware

. Cockrach bootloader

Simon's bootloader allows for downloading of programs (HEX files) via RS232.

. SP4M. D0 Y OU SWA1LOW? Spam Processor

A Python program that uses FTP to retrieve a large text file of uptodate concatenated spam emails. The Spam processor parses the sentences and shuffles them, then telnets to the Cockroach. Using the LCD Commandline, the program writes each sentence to the LCD and the sentences are looped through.

. SP4M. D0 Y OU SWA1LOW? LCD Commandline

The LCD Commandline uses Procyon's avrlib commandline and lcd libraries. The C program is loaded on the Microcontroller. It processes the write to lcd commands and displays the text on the LCD. <random> search

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