Spamtrap automatically prints, shreds spam for ultimate satisfaction

Watching the digits in front of your dedicated spam folder grow isn't entirely enthralling, and to be honest, witnessing just how much junk email you receive on a daily basis can actually be somewhat infuriating. The Spamtrap provides a much more tactile and satisfying way to demolish said waste, as it disregards the delete command and gets straight to the dirty work. The installation interacts with spammers by monitoring several email addresses, and once any spam is received, the Pentium II-based machine "automatically prints and shreds" the garbage so you can really tell the spam whose boss. Subsequently, the system then feeds blacklists with the information it receives in an attempt to further clean up the web for other individuals without such extreme means of purging their inbox. And for those environmentally conscience folks who are on the edge of irate, yes, the creator does go the extra mile by recycling the paper that inevitably gets wasted. Hit the read link for a video demonstration.

[Via BoingBoing]

[Rajiv Kotecha @ May 10th 2007 3:41PM]

OK, i get the fact that this is a joke but if anyone started using this then i'd be completely disgusted. What a waste of ink/electricity/paper/MONEY. The idea of auto-blacklisting spammers appeals to me though ;)

[Xultar @ May 10th 2007 3:43PM]

OMFG people waste of resources.

[steve @ May 10th 2007 3:51PM]

heh.....al gore is gonna slit the makers throat at night

[a ham sandwich @ May 10th 2007 3:54PM]

engadget's gotta stop using commas in post titles

[PDubNYC @ May 10th 2007 4:09PM]

Engadget's got to to get some editors who can write decent sentences besides Ryan and Peter.

"whose boss"
See IMDB, and look up Tony Danza for assistance with this pesky little phrase.

And this is just like that calendar that gets shredded slowly over the course of a year. Vaguely interesting artistically, I suppose.

[Chocolate Starfish @ May 10th 2007 3:55PM]

Recycled shreds or not, there's an indian on a billboard shedding a slow, solitary tear over this.

[Paul @ May 10th 2007 4:07PM]

Unless they're printing on 100% recycled paper, they're still killing trees. And even then, they're still wasting the power necessary to recycle the paper again.

[ctcourt @ May 10th 2007 4:23PM]

I would rather have spam than clean up that mess!

[mazola @ May 10th 2007 4:30PM]

I don't know much about art, but I know what I like and I wouldn't
hang that in my rumpus room.

[paralipsis @ May 10th 2007 4:52PM]

Recycling is the least of "the three Rs". No matter what way you look at it, it's not environmentally friendly.

[Shawson @ May 10th 2007 4:57PM]

This is, by far, the stupidest use of technology i have ever seen in my 24 years of life.

[S. Brown @ May 10th 2007 5:01PM]

Kind of solving a problem where there isn't one. I hope it turns into a 'must have' household accessory.

[boomhauer @ May 10th 2007 5:07PM]

Add a fan to the bottom, carpet the office!

hey al gore invented this dam internet, this is one way to show him what a mess he created ;)

[MESDAG @ May 10th 2007 6:08PM]

What an AWESOME waste of paper.
(15 Minutes of fame) "Look at me, me and my stupid Idea made it on the Internet" The world is now just a little bit dumber.

[Jason @ May 10th 2007 6:38PM]

Oh oh.. I just found the perfect mother's day present..

[Archie @ May 10th 2007 6:47PM]

As a gadget, this is obviously a waste of time and resources.

But as an artistic or activist statement, I think it's brilliant. It's all too easy for us to discount "virtual" things as not having a real impact on our lives; this is a concrete statement. Not only should this device provide a physical manifestation of the waste caused by spam email, the author should find a way for it to discern unnecessary internal memos, reports, and committee proceedings and shred them as well.

Then, the device should be put in the CEO's office. =-)

This is the Archie Bunker of spam... an absurd excess highlighting a serious problem that we've all just gotten used to and given up on.

The Spamtrap would have been a perfect piece of equipment in Terry Gilliam's Brazil.

[Isaac Eiland-Hall @ May 10th 2007 6:50PM]

Well... I would hope it's obvious that it's "art" and not some real product... Oy...

Meanwhile, recyclers hate shredded paper... Why? Because recycling paper involves soaking, not cutting. Cutting cuts fibers - which are what hold paper together. Recycling already cuts fibers and makes for weaker paper...

In other words - if you took shredded paper and made more paper 100% for it, and shredded that and recycled it again-- pretty soon, you wouldn't be able to make paper. I'm not sure how many cycles you could go, but it wouldn't be that many at all...

OTOH, for the sake of art, this is funny and cool. I just wanted to point out that the recycling bit wasn't the redeeming quality it sounded like...

[eterertert @ May 10th 2007 7:29PM]

The "artist" has another "great" piece of "art" on his website called "United we stand".

It's a non-moving video of an american flag. Yes, nothing else. Die.

[Ratteler @ May 10th 2007 7:29PM]

Don't shred the spam. Shred the Spammer!!!!

[Eric @ May 10th 2007 9:20PM]

It looks like something you'd see in a lawyer's office, or in a large bureaucracy, in order to provide physical proof that something was deleted.

[myscrnnm @ May 10th 2007 9:57PM]

If Bill Gates had one of these, there would be a nationwide paper shortage.

[Gary @ May 10th 2007 10:17PM]

I think you mean "[...]so you can really tell the spam who's boss".

You need to embrace the contraction!

[segovia101 @ May 11th 2007 5:42AM]

If necessity is the mother of this invention then the father is stupidity.

[Tim @ May 11th 2007 7:48AM]

It would have been a lot cooler if they hooked it up to periodically order cans of real spam for the spam email you received. One slice per email.

[fragle1980 @ May 11th 2007 4:54PM]

Great idea! But the poor Trees!

[vacuumseal @ May 12th 2007 2:51PM]

I really hope the builder of this machine actually doesn't use it for real. Fair enough, as posted in a few comments, this is a great piece of art that may or may not sit in a gallery for a few weeks, then get stuffed into a basement forever.. But really, if this guy actually leaves this thing switched on then he needs to hang. We all need a computer, I agree on that, but we all need to switch the f***ers off when not in use. Including STAND BY mode! Microsoft will kill the planet developing Smart Tech Homes. The cut my limbs off right now and wire my brain to the PC attitude is really rubbing off on a great majority of the population.

[segovia101 @ May 13th 2007 12:20PM]

Man, if I had limbs I'd give you such a whuppin'! As it is all I can do is dictate this reply using my trusty VR software. How'd you like them apples.