What is Digg?45 Comments
- CurtHowland, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12What, using the USPS instead of email?
- Chompy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10So there's 200 guys out there.. wny not just start killing them? I suspect spam levels would go down a bit if there were some real consequences for doing it.
- LudicrousSpeed, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9If we know that there are about 200 spammers responsible for 80% of the spam worldwide, why don't we hunt them down and perform one or more of the following on them:
a. burn them alive for all the frustration they've caused
b. force them to use all the stupid crap they advertise
c. print out every message they've sent and drown them in the paper (not very environmentally conscience, but I would enjoy it nonetheless)
d. give them a relatively low shock for each message they've sent
Feel free to add to the list. - invader, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6i would be more likely to make the switch if it was run by an international standardization organization, rather than some unknown start-up
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Last I checked, spam costs $2.99 for a nice big container of it.
- billmccartney, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6yay... a proprietary system to replace our open system..
ya.. wait a second... - CurtHowland, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5http://www.outpost-of-freedom.com/jimbellap.htm
"A few months ago, I had a truly and quite literally "revolutionary" idea, and I jokingly called it "Assassination Politics": I speculated on the question of whether an organization could be set up to legally announce that it would be awarding a cash prize to somebody who correctly "predicted" the death of one of a list of violators of rights, usually either government employees, officeholders, or appointees. It could ask for anonymous contributions from the public, and individuals would be able send those contributions using digital cash." - andysilva, on 10/12/2007, -6/+10Why aren't things progressing in this area?
What we really need is to change the email protocol. Now everybody comes shouting at me saying that that is impossible because that would require cooperation from everybody at once. Actually that is not true. It depends on which approach we are talking about.
For instance, EmailXT is the only proposal I know that does not require everybody moving from email as we know it to a new system. With EmailXT, two persons are enough to make it work. Let's say you want to correspond with your mom but you want her to be shielded from spam and viruses: You install the EmailXT client on both computers, set it up, and you can then send emails over the current infrastructure, immune from the current threats. Then you start recruiting your friends and co-workers. Progressively we will have people switching from the old email system to the new one, and in a near future everybody has moved, without much hassles or effort.
Then everybody comes shouting again saying : "When everybody starts using EmailXT, the old problems return". Of course that wouldn't be true since EmailXT is not like today's email. It is built on relationships and encryption, and unsolicited bulk emailing is no longer possible.
Well, enough ranting. For those interested, http://www.emailxt.com . Not affiliated but I really like the concept.
_AS - CurtHowland, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4My ISP already blocks outgoing port 25 (SMTP), just as it blocks incoming port 80 (HTTP).
One ISP I worked for also blocked all port 80 requests *between* customers, in response to the Code Red and Nimda viruses.
If I want to send a standard email, I have to send it through their SMTP server. This is a slight inconvenience, but I consider it a good compromise. I wish that all ISPs would enact such a policy, it would be very easy to identify spammers that way and shut them down. It would also prevent the majority of bot-nets from spamming.
Technical users know how to get around such restrictions with SSH tunnels, https servers, &etc. It's not a complete solution, but it is one good step. - Tenareth, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I know that at my location at least 750,000 separate dynamic IP addresses attempt to send spam to us, and that is just within a 1 week period. Luckily we can use the current BLists to block them, but it is completely ridiculous.
There are so many computers out there that are parts of botnets and don't even know it. - Waterrat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"Assassination Politics"
Somebody told me Texas has a "He needed kllin' law...If your in Texas and you kill a child molester,nothing happens to you cause he needed killin.
- pkulak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I get those, but they all have an attached image of spam (not the meat).
- TheBeaver, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4What I want to know is, why is all the spam I get totally void of ads now? It's usually a paragraph of nonsense followed by a few lines of code. What's the point? It almost makes me miss the days of penis pills. Any insight would be appreciated.
- Ender0910, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I haven't really read anything about this topic and I wondered about it myself.
One reason I could guess is that the nonsense emails train your spam filter to "trust" that email address so they could spam you with the penis pill stuff later. - armbar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I'm just curious to see the end result of your proposal for spammers that send out both penis and breast enlargment pills. Wait...I take that back. I'm not.
However, if they're being burned alive anyway, I suppose it doesn't matter much in the end. Perhaps your steps could be done in reverse order? - Waterrat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2 I'm astounded that just 200 creeps are causing all this mess...Shooting is too good for um.
Stake um on top of fire ant nests and pour honey and gravy on them. - Ender0910, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2But in the end Blue Security failed because the spammers simply nuked everything they could with DDOS attacks that had any relation to Blue Security. Thus, "innocents" in the fight were crushed.
They stopped what they were doing because they didn't want half of the internet to be a casualty in the battle. It really angers me what lengths spammers go through to persist their fundamentally wrong living.
So for something like Blue Security to work, we would have to take out their weapon: zombie networks. And for that to happen, there would need to be a global, well executed effort to secure software. I mean, total security is not practical, but at least reduce those zombie networks to a point where a spammer flipping a switch won't take down entire swaths of the internet. - nicepants, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1In the article, their chart shows:
Viruses - 1 in 4 people have them
Spyware 1 in 8 people have it
In my experience spyware is MUCH more prevalent than viruses...I guess it depends on where you draw the line. I would say at LEAST 1 in 3 have some form of spyware. And of the computers that people bring to me for repair....it's more like 9 out of 10. - ApplePenguin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I think it was $2.78 when I last got it...
mmm....spam....... - jukhau, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1SPAM problem is not only with email. It same with bbs, blogs, guestbooks etc. etc.
When bots discover your site, it can be really tough to get rid of them, basically impossible.
(bot) SPAM is ruining everything on internet. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Find them, and kill them.
- nicepants, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What needs to happen is to fight fire with fire. BlueSecurity took on a similar configuration to a "bot network" except that each node was purposefully installed by a user. A large community of nodes could easily dwarf the spammers' bot army.
Spammers would not have fought BlueSecurity if it wasn't a threat. The idea was right, the implementation needed some work. We know how to hit them where it hurts (bandwidth), and I am looking forward to the day when spammers the world over will be defeated......i just wish we could burn them. - gd007, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1have some fun with spam : http://www.spamsalad.com/
- jszorean, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3EmailXT is not a proprietary system. The first standard proposal draft is being prepared and will be published soon.
Disclaimer : I am the EmailXT project leader
It's true we are not a standards organization, but concerning spam, standards organizations have been a complete disappointment so far...
Many de-facto standards come from private sector initiatives. Look at PDF, for instance...
We have just opened a forum at http://www.emailxt.org so you are free to join and discuss... - ellenweber, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It would be interesting if some of this cost could be sent back to those who commit email fraud. meanwhile it seems that firms make money on the guys who create new needs -- and at times I hear these two side work together to create the need and demand new softwares which they are happy to sell us. Hmmm - now that is a new way of marketing. Thanks for post.
Brain Based Business - altosaxon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It is growing to fast. Can anyone say DEATH SENTENCE?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I'll tell you one thing, I better not meet one of these spammer *****, because someone is going to be on the news tonight, and it ain't me! >:|
- invader, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@Ender0910
that's a good idea.. i hadn't thought about that - talledega500, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0page not found
- leopardhunter, on 02/18/2009, -1/+1Interesting concept. I will be checking this out.
E-mail has a crying need for a universal file format, so you can drop in different MUAs whenever you want with your mailstore.
Would you please consider building in a requirement for a universal mail box format, such as mbox or maildir?
Also needed is a universal address book file format standard. This should be XML based. For example, http://www.ama3.com/addybook/ .
There should be one overarching standard that encompasses the protocol and the file formats. - jszorean, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1ahagen,
EmailXT has a XML universal-format, self-updating address book. It means that whenever your contacts update their profile details, your address book gets automatically updated.
EmailXT has also a universal file format for mail folders. However we are not making this a requirement since it would be hard to enforce.
JS - CurtHowland, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I think I'm wrong, but the only things that make any sense are email viruses looking for a host.
- koshbaby, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0SPAM in its current form will not be profitable for spammers forever. Blue Security found a solution that worked... Okopipi will hopefully make it happen.
http://wiki.okopipi.org/wiki/Frequently_Asked_Questions#What_is_Okopipi.3F - jukhau, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1My own story about bot spam.
http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Ghost_guestbook_which_seems_to_be_great_marketing_tool_for_someone
Inspirated by this news flash. I think this bot spam thing is going really ridiculous. I get tons of comment spam to my blog, which is for finnish people with finnish language. Why they would be interested of some stupid viagra ads or whatever ***** these spammers are trying to sell. :( - RegisteredUser, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Your e-mail address is a commodity itself. Spammers buy/sell/trade valid e-mail addresses. That's why you occasionally see random e-mails that don't have anything to sell.
- JAKN, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2You show a lot of trust for people and their relationships. It is true though, that it would be easier to block spammers, because they would be added at a slower rate.
- swenzel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0What I don't get is that spam filters don't work right. Spam exists not only since yesterday and still AOL, Yahoo, Google and Co. don't get it under control.
How hard is it to block emails with the keywords Viagra, vigra, virga,vrga, vragia and so on? Why is there no institution which follows those emails and researches who is behind it? This whole problem reminds me of the New York bike stealing problem. Nobody really cares anymore. Talking about Spam is probably lame. - MrRockabilly, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Tie them to a chair and beat them with a hammer.
- CapricaPunk, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0I GET NO SPAM!
- buba69, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Spamhaus sux
- indicas, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2I love these types of retarded comments. Are you really that retarded?
- dcoolidge, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2I like AOLs approach to SPAM...
- duckslut, on 10/12/2007, -13/+5Increase your penis size inches in just days!!!
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