Spam busters : ICON : News Possibly the most significant list of late is Spam Prevention Early Warning System. Despite its rather unappealing acronym, SPEWS is proving to be a considerable force. "We don't know who SPEWS is. We think it's made up of a number of senior system administrators who are powerful enough to have gained the authority to cut down the traffic. They're powerful but we don't know who they are," Barry says.