Spam

2/29/04

[pabianice]

Since the federal legislation was signed making spamming and spoof address emailing crimes punishable by large fine, my spam email has increased 20%. Has anyone else had the same experience? I use two good spam filters but the stuff keeps coming in carloads.

Let me propose that it be made lawful to flog spammers through the streets. Opinions?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

A Penny Stock sales company has got my fax number. I'd like to return the favor but they hide their return number.

[goldstategop]

I highly recommend http://www.mailblocks.com Since I signed up last year, the flood of spam into my MSN mailbox has dried up to a trickle. Well worth the price.

[cripplecreek]

My vote would be for the symbolic stoning of spammers with the actual products they push. If the get pelted with a few million male enhancement products it might act as a deterrent.

[proxy_user]

Law against crimes that no one can stop, threatening huge punishments to people no one can catch, merely add insult to injury.

The spammers are so far ahead of LEA it's ridiculous...

[areafiftyone]

Actually the porn spam and decreased tremendously. I don't get it anymore. I used to get so much of it even if I blocked them all . I hated those porn spam e-mails. If I blocked one the same one would pop up from a different e-mail name. My regular spam has decreased slightly too I noticed. I used to get about 50 or 60 a day - now I get the most about 9 or 10.

[goldstategop]

Most spammers are located offshore where U.S laws can't touch them.

[areafiftyone]

and=has

[devane617]

Mine has increased lots more than yours. I receive an average 8 spam emails every hour. It will be very difficult to control this problem.

[goldstategop]

Its reached the point of diminishing returns. No point in e-mail marketing if your customers never see your message.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Somehow "johnkerryforpresident.org" keeps seeping past my filters.

[Marie Antoinette]

It seems like we get more, but it's held in my "pending" folder online, so it never makes it to my machine anymore.

I've decided to use my "Friends" system that is provided by the ISP and spam bots and invalid email accts are screened out. If there is a real person on the other end, they just hit "reply" to my automated message and their message will get through and they are added to my "acceptable" list.

A pain at first, but I no longer get viagra spam :-)

[goldstategop]

Did you sign up for it?

[Gorzaloon]

Most spammers are located offshore where U.S laws can't touch them.

Their hijacked relays and "bulletproof" providers are, but if one follows the money, they are nearly all right here. The Direct Marketing Association has managed enough bribes every time an antispam bill comes up to weaken and sabotage them.

A new technique is to infect machines connected to high speed cable with trojans that allow them to become spam hydrants in the background. This is good, since it is inarguably criminal, and in the future will provoke even more outrage. Though it has died out in e-mail spam, the "Download the latest Microsoft Patch" effort is still being frantically spammed on the newsgroups.

[ysoitanly]

Quit whining. My penis has increased 1000% and I'm a female!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I use two good spam filters but the stuff keeps coming in carloads.

Use Mailwasher. You can view email while it is on your ISP's server and bounce the spam back to the source before it is even downloaded by your email client to your PC.

That tactic alone will wind up reducing the amount of spam generated by repeat sources. What happens is the source mailer eventually gives up on your address since it receives back no indication that the mail was delivered to the destination.

[frithguild]

My vote would be for the symbolic stoning of spammers with the actual products they push.

You can actually categorize spam under the classic definition of trespass. I would like to learn how to do a DNS attack. Span comes in and automatically my machine DNS's the POP that sent the spam.

I just downloaded SpyBot and Spyware Blaster. I was amazed at the amount of spyware my machine has accumulated. Many companies capturing and probably selling my family's brousing habits to spammers. I am hoping this will help.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I'd like to return the favor but they hide their return number.

Try *69 from a phone with caller ID. Or, get or borrow a fax machine that displays the source nuumber in it's display window. Sometimes different machines handle that info diferently. Or, even still, have your fax machine print out an activity log. The number may show up on that.

[grellis]

I get relatively little spam, maybe five or six emails daily. Almost invariably they are updates from a soccer website and pleas to consider having my penis enlarged. What's curious is that I really don't care for soccer and I'm a woman.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Did you sign up for it?

No. Long story. When Republican Governor Mitt Romney and his sons saved some boaters in New Hampshire my state senator, Corry Atkins, was quoted in the Globe making some snide remarks about his vacationing in New Hampshire and minimizing his efforts. (Mitt was actually very self-effacing about it also.)

I sent her a derisive letter noting that Democrats, especially in Massachusetts, should be circumspect when making comments about water safety. (The contrast being so obvious.) I mean, was the correct thing to do to dump a blond in the pond and "report" it the next day when confronted by the Sheriff?

I "cc:"ed Ted Kennedy, just in case. I immediately began receiving a torrent of email from John Kerry for President. I kept replying "despam" and eventually they stopped. I suppose Kennedy and Kerry share "constituent" email addresses.