Plan would shut down spam-sending computers (maybe yours)

Reuters ^ | June 22, 2004

[Dog Gone]

How would a consumer know if he or she became an unwitting spammer?

[BullDog108]

When they unplug your computer from the net ;^)

[My2Cents]

I'm clean.

[ElkGroveDan]

How would a consumer know if he or she became an unwitting spammer?

When this appears as your wallpaper.

[Jeff Gordon]

Notably missing: SBC

[Dog Gone]

Uh-oh

[PetroniusMaximus]

***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.

[jwpjr]

I received a nastygram from my provider a couple of weeks ago advising that they had gotten complaints from people who said they had been spammed by address. It was a very helpful and informative letter once you got beyond the threat to discontinue your service it the problem wasn't solved pronto. I went through the full page of info they sent and did everything they suggested. I only found one virus and it wasn't the type that redirects email as far as I could tell. I do not use Outlook as my mail client so I don't have some of the security problems Outlook users do. I have a ftp server on my home machine so that I can access it from anywhere that I have access to the net. That can be a real source of security problems from what they said, but I have a firewall as part of my router and I have a software firewall. I am supposed to contact them when I have solved the problem. One problem was that they provided no specifics whatsoever about the spamming, nothing about the date(s), the product, how many, etc. This is apparently quite a problem for isp's and I can see why they want to clamp down as much as possible, but they could have been a bit more informative and it would have made my job easier. Lord knows I would like to see something cut down on the amount of spam, I get hundreds of messages every day and maybe 10 of them are for real. I have a pretty old email address and a lot of people have had years and years to add my address to their list.

[LibWhacker]

The proposal was developed by Time Warner Inc.'s America Online, Yahoo Inc., EarthLink Inc., Microsoft Corp., Comcast Corp. and BT Group Plc.

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.

[Dog Gone]

I'm not convinced that spam sent from your email address means that your machine is infected and you're part of the problem. Email addresses of senders get spoofed all the time.

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.

[Arthalion]

Exactly how much of the problem can be traced to security holes in Windows and Outlook Express anyway, if any?

80% according to at least one study. Windows zombies are a spammers best friend nowoadays because they're readily available, and it doesn't hurt the spammer when a few get shut down. See a recent Register article on this.

Personally, I say good riddance to the suspended hosts. They'll either clean their machines and learn to run Windows Update now and then, or they'll be banned from the Internet. It's not that hard to keep people off your computer, you just have to give it a little thought now and then.

[gargoyle]

...The big boys don't like the competition from individual providers...

...And, they're scared...%^)))

...Let them sweat...

[Dog Gone]

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.

[steplock]

So --- the six largest email spammers want congress to confiscate private property???

MY SHOTGUN IS LOADED! come on!

[weegee]

I don't "send" spam but a spammer has used my address (and others) from his spam list to fake the "from" address.

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.

[A CA Guy]

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.

[mlmr]

Someone is using my url to send spam and I have no idea how to change it.

[weegee]

BUMP!

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?

[Dog Gone]

That sounds like a good tip.