I’ve been getting a ton of spim lately. Spim is spam that targets your instant messager (IM) rather than your e-mail. At least twice a day, my IM client pops up with an invitation to visit a Web site created and maintained entirely by women. I get more irritated every time I have to put a block on the ad which comes from a different source every time it appears.

So I cheered when I read that 18-year-old Anthony Greco was arrested last Wednesday for sending 1.5 million spim messages advertising everything from mortages to porn. All Greco’s spims reportedly were sent to subscribers to the MySpace.com IM service, so he wasn’t responsible for any of the unwanted messages I got. But with luck, his arrest will send a message to others that spimming won’t be tolerated.