Sam Spade was the name of a Windows software tool designed to assist in tracking down sources of e-mail spam. It was also the name of a free web service that provides access to similar online tools.[1][2][3][4] The Sam Spade utility was authored by Steve Atkins in 1997. It is named after the fictional character Sam Spade.[5]
The last fully functional version of the website was available 2004-02-26.[6]
Since then it experienced various outage problems due to "blackholing of SamSpade.org by several RIRs and general heavy usage.",[7] and is no longer online. The URL currently redirects to https://tools.wordtothewise.com/ which contains a similar set of web tools under the brand name "wiseTools" and hosted by Atkins's email software business Word to The Wise[8]
References
^Moran, John (Jul 8, 2002). "Sick of spam, PC activists hunt for perpetrators". Chicago Tribune.