Posted on 06/22/2004 4:07:02 PM PDT by Dog Gone
WASHINGTON -- Consumers who allow their infected computers to send out millions of "spam" messages could be unplugged from the Internet under a proposal released today by six large e-mail providers.
Internet users also could be limited on the amount of e-mail they send out each day to ensure they haven't become unwitting spammers, under voluntary guidelines proposed to curb unwanted junk e-mail.
The proposal was developed by Time Warner Inc.'s America Online, Yahoo Inc., EarthLink Inc., Microsoft Corp., Comcast Corp. and BT Group Plc.
Spam now accounts for up to 83 percent of all e-mail traffic, and large Internet providers say the problem costs them billions of dollars each year in wasted bandwidth, legal bills and additional customer service.
Most of the recommendations issued by the group seek to plug holes used by spammers to cover their tracks.
Internet companies should make sure that their equipment has been properly secured so spammers can't route their messages through them, the group said.
Security holes in Web-based e-mail forms and redirection services used to monitor online advertising should be plugged, the group said.
But the group also suggested consumers be held accountable if their machines are exploited by spammers.
A spate of viruses and worms over the past year have allowed spammers to route their traffic through personal computers, allowing come-ons for low mortgage rates and herbal Viagra to appear as if they're coming from a trusted friend.
Internet providers should take those machines offline until they can be cleaned up, the group said.
Providers should also limit the number of messages an individual machine can send to 100 per hour or 500 per day to prevent spammers from routing millions of messages through customer machines, the group said.
When they unplug your computer from the net ;^)
I'm clean.
When this appears as your wallpaper.
Notably missing: SBC
Uh-oh
***Internet users also could be limited on the amount of e-mail they send out each day ***
Users will lose and spammers will move on to new tactics.
I do hate spam and I'm definitely no expert, so this might sound like I'm pulling crap outta my hat, but . . . honest question . . . I'm just wondering . . . I'm not making any charges . . . Exactly how much of the problem can be traced to security holes in Windows and Outlook Express anyway, if any?
If none, somebody set me straight. It just seems to me like the big guy (Microsoft?), who may or may not deserve much of the blame, is pointing the finger at, say, the poor little old lady who through no fault of her own isn't an IT professional and doesn't know how to properly configure her system to keep spammers out.
Before the ISPs start punishing their customers, they had better make sure that the problem resides on that home PC, or provide clear instructions to determine whether it's really true and how to fix it.
...And, they're scared...%^)))
...Let them sweat...
I honestly don't know whether Microsoft is part of the problem or they're just the victim because they're the most obvious target for those who want to prey on as many users as possible.
So --- the six largest email spammers want congress to confiscate private property???
MY SHOTGUN IS LOADED! come on!
This is why legislators who studied law and not technical sciences should do a lot of reading before writing laws on such matters. 20 years ago computer scientists wanted to prohibit the selling of private information but the legislators got heavy funding from advertising lobbyists.
Even in the 1990s legislators saw no harm in spam.
I use bigvalley.net which is yahoo and they announced that if I have an infected computer, I get no access until it comes up clean.
Makes it tougher to get rid of a virus or ad software.
What you should do is go *WINDOWS TASK MANAGER* and *Process* and copy all your running programs that are going now when it is not infected. Save this somewhere.
Then what you do is if infected, refer to this and go back to the same window and discontinue the bad program running before going on the net. This lets you go on the net if you have a virus and it is blocked. It gives you then a chance to use the net as an aid to clean your computer up.
Someone is using my url to send spam and I have no idea how to change it.
I've also gotten a few automated notices from univesities that said I sent a virus but I have always tested clean.
That falsification of addresses should put the commercial companies into hot water for misrepresentation. But when do legislators ever go after the bad guy?
That sounds like a good tip.
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