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The FTC valiantly targets spammers 4
- Thread starter Dimandja
- Start date
I don't know that it will rein in spam, but I think it is a good idea. If I know that I can clean sexually explicit emails from my sons email box easily, it makes my job as a parent easier.
[blue]"Well, once again my friend, we find that science is a two headed beast. One head is nice, it gives us aspirin and other modern conveniences,...but the other head of science is BAD! Oh, beware the other head of science, Arthur; it bites!!" - The Tick[/blue]
[blue]"Well, once again my friend, we find that science is a two headed beast. One head is nice, it gives us aspirin and other modern conveniences,...but the other head of science is BAD! Oh, beware the other head of science, Arthur; it bites!!" - The Tick[/blue]
bluedragon2
IS-IT--Management
This would also make spam sweepers job much easier. I also like that the pictures are not automattically shown in the body.
[Blue]Blue[/Blue] [Dragon]
If I wasn't Blue, I would just be a Dragon...
[Blue]Blue[/Blue] [Dragon]
If I wasn't Blue, I would just be a Dragon...
Does anyone really think spammers are going to follow any rules? I just don't see it happening.
It's much easier to use a simple (free) program such as SpamPal that will filter your e-mail and tag spam allowing you to delete it or send it straight to the garbage can. It is also much easier to turn off html in your e-mail than depending on spammers to eliminate pictures in the spam.
A little education, unfortunately, helps more than any laws they'll ever pass.
It's much easier to use a simple (free) program such as SpamPal that will filter your e-mail and tag spam allowing you to delete it or send it straight to the garbage can. It is also much easier to turn off html in your e-mail than depending on spammers to eliminate pictures in the spam.
A little education, unfortunately, helps more than any laws they'll ever pass.
I agree that this will not be a replacement for a good spam filter, however, it will help people that are not savvy enough to get a good spam filter and configure it properly. It will also give the government one more tool to prosecute spammers.
[blue]"Well, once again my friend, we find that science is a two headed beast. One head is nice, it gives us aspirin and other modern conveniences,...but the other head of science is BAD! Oh, beware the other head of science, Arthur; it bites!!" - The Tick[/blue]
[blue]"Well, once again my friend, we find that science is a two headed beast. One head is nice, it gives us aspirin and other modern conveniences,...but the other head of science is BAD! Oh, beware the other head of science, Arthur; it bites!!" - The Tick[/blue]
petermeachem
Programmer
Do you really think the US is actually interested in stopping spam? Not really. As I understand it, there are few major spammers, most of whom live in the US. If the US government actually wanted to stop it, they could easily except you instantly get lawyers squeaking on about the first amendment.
I am not, nor wish to be, a US citizen, but I still have to put up with masses of spam. Pity no-one thought of having a right of free listen as well as one of 'free speech'.
I am not, nor wish to be, a US citizen, but I still have to put up with masses of spam. Pity no-one thought of having a right of free listen as well as one of 'free speech'.
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- #7
sleipnir214
Programmer
Even in the U.K., if one does not want to listen, one is expected to walk out of earshot.
I recommend you replace your keyboard. On your current one, the "delete" key is apparently missing.
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TANSTAAFL!!
petermeachem
Programmer
Well that is just silly.
I have a domain that has been spammed to death. I've had to spend money to get anotheras we were getting 500 spams a day. The spam filters are not perfect by any means, so I was missing important stuff in the flood of rubbish. I can't do anything to stop it.
Go and look at . The majority of these parasites are US citizens shielded by daft 'free speach' and can-spam rules.
I have a domain that has been spammed to death. I've had to spend money to get anotheras we were getting 500 spams a day. The spam filters are not perfect by any means, so I was missing important stuff in the flood of rubbish. I can't do anything to stop it.
Go and look at . The majority of these parasites are US citizens shielded by daft 'free speach' and can-spam rules.
sleipnir214
Programmer
No, what's silly is blaming all your woes on the Bill of Rights. Particularly when you bring them on yourself.
I've owned my own domain name since 1998 and have put it to both personal and business use. I get 2 or 3 spams a day.
This is because I protect my email address the same way I do my cell-phone number. I don't give it out unless absolutely necessary. I don't publish it anywhere. I also have a SpamCop account and am religious about reporting all spam emails that arrive.
You, on the other hand, have published your email address here and here. This page has a mailto: link to a different address. These are open invitations for entities to email you.
If I run around the public restrooms of North America, writing "For a good time call: [my phone number]", it's not the fault of the First Amendment that telemarketers harvest my phone number and call me. It's my fault for being too promiscuous with my phone number.
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TANSTAAFL!!
I've owned my own domain name since 1998 and have put it to both personal and business use. I get 2 or 3 spams a day.
This is because I protect my email address the same way I do my cell-phone number. I don't give it out unless absolutely necessary. I don't publish it anywhere. I also have a SpamCop account and am religious about reporting all spam emails that arrive.
You, on the other hand, have published your email address here and here. This page has a mailto: link to a different address. These are open invitations for entities to email you.
If I run around the public restrooms of North America, writing "For a good time call: [my phone number]", it's not the fault of the First Amendment that telemarketers harvest my phone number and call me. It's my fault for being too promiscuous with my phone number.
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TANSTAAFL!!
petermeachem
Programmer
You are very wrong. My phone number is in the phone book. I don't get hundreds of phone calls a day. In fact I don't get any advertising calls because I registered with something called the Telephone Preference Service. This works very nicely.
Just because I have an email address on a web page, doesn't mean it's ok for a few well known american criminals to send me thousands of adverts for drugs and porn.
If you are running a business, it's handy for people to be able to get in touch with you. Your spammers have totally destroyed email as a useful service.
So what happens when you report spam. Presumably nothing because it's perfectly legal in america and probably part of the great american way.
Just because I have an email address on a web page, doesn't mean it's ok for a few well known american criminals to send me thousands of adverts for drugs and porn.
If you are running a business, it's handy for people to be able to get in touch with you. Your spammers have totally destroyed email as a useful service.
So what happens when you report spam. Presumably nothing because it's perfectly legal in america and probably part of the great american way.
sleipnir214
Programmer
I've provided access to contact my through my web-site for years. You fill in a form and click submit, and a script files the data away in a database and emails me a copy of the information. But at the same time my email address is not harvestable. An example of similar functionality is the Tek-Tips "Contact Us" page.
Didn't the link you provided also list other countries besides the U.S.? It seems you're making quite a leap here. Or are you asserting that only U.S. spammers have it out for you?
And yes, two of the first four on the list are based in the U.S. But the list is in alphabet-order. It would be a possible but astonishingly far-fetched statistical event if the listed order were also in order of percentage of offenses.
I'm just recommending that before anyone start squeaking about the U.S. Bill of Rights that we all make sure that it's not Xavier Ratelle of Canada that hasn't targeted you.
And how does SpamCop work? You send their servers an email with full SMTP headers and their programs get to work on it. Then they inform all the networks through which the email was sent that spam traversed the network operators' systems. Then those ISPs shut down the operations of spammers that are violating AUPs. An AUP is a contract, and contract violations, while not necessarily unconstitutional, are violations of U.S. civil law.
I haven't always received so few spams a day. I've found a direct correlation between how religiously I report spams to SpamCop and how few spams I receive.
The real beauty is that the service is free.
Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!
TANSTAAFL!!
Didn't the link you provided also list other countries besides the U.S.? It seems you're making quite a leap here. Or are you asserting that only U.S. spammers have it out for you?
And yes, two of the first four on the list are based in the U.S. But the list is in alphabet-order. It would be a possible but astonishingly far-fetched statistical event if the listed order were also in order of percentage of offenses.
I'm just recommending that before anyone start squeaking about the U.S. Bill of Rights that we all make sure that it's not Xavier Ratelle of Canada that hasn't targeted you.
And how does SpamCop work? You send their servers an email with full SMTP headers and their programs get to work on it. Then they inform all the networks through which the email was sent that spam traversed the network operators' systems. Then those ISPs shut down the operations of spammers that are violating AUPs. An AUP is a contract, and contract violations, while not necessarily unconstitutional, are violations of U.S. civil law.
I haven't always received so few spams a day. I've found a direct correlation between how religiously I report spams to SpamCop and how few spams I receive.
The real beauty is that the service is free.
Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!
TANSTAAFL!!
Regulations put forth by the government are always going to cause a knee jerk reaction.
On one hand, we don't want them to interfere. The Internet is international and should not fall under the control of one country.
On the other hand, those who do not know how to use spam filters, black lists, white lists, run mail servers with implemented block lists, etc., want the government to interfere so they don't have to read pornographic spams about farm girls giving viagra or cialis to gnomes selling software for low, low prices.
If one group is happy, the other group is unhappy. There is no good answer to this, but believe me, the bill of rights has nothing to do with this. The Internet was not founded on the bill of rights. It was founded on the belief that information should be shared and readily available to those who need it.
It is possible to use spam filters, e-mail program filters, and white lists so you can see the e-mail you want and have the freedom to either send the spam straight to your garbage can or be able to scan through them quickly before deleting to be sure you haven't missed one.
Spammers have the same type of program search engines have. Instead of scanning your website for keywords and content for search engines, they scan your site for e-mail addresses. Spammers also use "dictionary" attacks and send e-mail to every "tom", "dick" and "harry" (literally). They'll use every single common name, first initial and last name, etc. If you've ever, ever, ever signed up for a newsletter, you're on a spammers list somewhere. This is almost guaranteed if you signed up for the newsletter over 2 years ago.
It should be up to ISP's to educate their users about spam, e-mail and internet sense. Waiting for the U.S. government to do something about it isn't the best move, considering the Atlantic Ocean will probably evaporate before that happens.
I'll just keep using spamcop, LARTing, and notifying upstreams and the FTC. Keep an eye on the spamcop case, it could have HUGE implications if the wrong party succeeds.
On one hand, we don't want them to interfere. The Internet is international and should not fall under the control of one country.
On the other hand, those who do not know how to use spam filters, black lists, white lists, run mail servers with implemented block lists, etc., want the government to interfere so they don't have to read pornographic spams about farm girls giving viagra or cialis to gnomes selling software for low, low prices.
If one group is happy, the other group is unhappy. There is no good answer to this, but believe me, the bill of rights has nothing to do with this. The Internet was not founded on the bill of rights. It was founded on the belief that information should be shared and readily available to those who need it.
It is possible to use spam filters, e-mail program filters, and white lists so you can see the e-mail you want and have the freedom to either send the spam straight to your garbage can or be able to scan through them quickly before deleting to be sure you haven't missed one.
Spammers have the same type of program search engines have. Instead of scanning your website for keywords and content for search engines, they scan your site for e-mail addresses. Spammers also use "dictionary" attacks and send e-mail to every "tom", "dick" and "harry" (literally). They'll use every single common name, first initial and last name, etc. If you've ever, ever, ever signed up for a newsletter, you're on a spammers list somewhere. This is almost guaranteed if you signed up for the newsletter over 2 years ago.
It should be up to ISP's to educate their users about spam, e-mail and internet sense. Waiting for the U.S. government to do something about it isn't the best move, considering the Atlantic Ocean will probably evaporate before that happens.
I'll just keep using spamcop, LARTing, and notifying upstreams and the FTC. Keep an eye on the spamcop case, it could have HUGE implications if the wrong party succeeds.
- Thread starter
- #13
sleipnir214
Programmer
The "spam king" is suing SpamCop. If he succeeds in suing SC, it could have massive implications on how spam is handled.
Here's a GS for the lawsuit:
Should get interesting. Julian (founder of SpamCop) will be debating the "spam king" next month.
Here's a GS for the lawsuit:
Should get interesting. Julian (founder of SpamCop) will be debating the "spam king" next month.
sleipnir214
Programmer
Dollie:
Thanks. I don't know how I let this case fall under my radar.
I'm not too worried about the case. A temporary restraining order Rickter filed against SpamCop has already been dissolved.
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TANSTAAFL!!
Thanks. I don't know how I let this case fall under my radar.
I'm not too worried about the case. A temporary restraining order Rickter filed against SpamCop has already been dissolved.
Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!
TANSTAAFL!!
The only reason it was dissolved is because it appeared that SpamCop/Ironport had not responded when in fact the paperwork was e-filed at the same time the order was placed. I hope the judge plays it as fairly as she has up to this point.
Interesting case all the same. Should at least be good for some giggles
![[tongue]](/data/assets/smilies/tongue.gif "[tongue] [tongue]")
Interesting case all the same. Should at least be good for some giggles
petermeachem
Programmer
sleipnir214, you should be in politics. There are a couple of hundred names on that list, the vast majority of which are US based. Have a look at the spamhaus front page. Top country USA, 9 out of 10 top spammers USA.
There must surely be a legal solution. Spam must cost the big ISP's a lot of money. If you have a big leak in a dam, you don't stand at the bottom with a bucket, you fix the leak.
(Not a very good analogy, but I've got an horrendous cold and don't feel at all well.)
There must surely be a legal solution. Spam must cost the big ISP's a lot of money. If you have a big leak in a dam, you don't stand at the bottom with a bucket, you fix the leak.
(Not a very good analogy, but I've got an horrendous cold and don't feel at all well.)
sleipnir214
Programmer
In short, you can't say for sure. I'm not sure anyone can.
Comcast disagrees with SpamHaus' statistics. Combine that with information from MessageLabs ( I'm inclined to agree with Comcast.
And with zombie PCs, it's difficult to know who the actual spam originator is. Zombies are apparently so ubiquitous, the spammers have gotten picky:
None of this, of course, takes into account SMTP header forgeries. I got an email from SpamCop today saying an email from my network had been reported as spam. Although the header does, indeed, list an IP address in my network, that same header shows the email's being transferred between two servers with top-level domains registered in Lebanon. Something isn't right somewhere.
Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!
TANSTAAFL!!
Comcast disagrees with SpamHaus' statistics. Combine that with information from MessageLabs ( I'm inclined to agree with Comcast.
And with zombie PCs, it's difficult to know who the actual spam originator is. Zombies are apparently so ubiquitous, the spammers have gotten picky:
None of this, of course, takes into account SMTP header forgeries. I got an email from SpamCop today saying an email from my network had been reported as spam. Although the header does, indeed, list an IP address in my network, that same header shows the email's being transferred between two servers with top-level domains registered in Lebanon. Something isn't right somewhere.
Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!
TANSTAAFL!!
Except we have a national do-not-call registry. If they call you (except from a few politically powerful industries) they can be fined. We've also got a state level registry here in Missouri that's stronger than the national.
Spamcop helps. So does the filter on my ATT account. However, I still get spam.
jim b
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