May I have more spam, please?

[kuroyume0161]

The amount of email spam recently is incomprehensible. I've been getting well over 700 per day (!). Types of spam with subjects like this for instance:

ThisPokrnSourceIsDedicatedToPa55ionateAmatteurBabesFromCollegeAndFast-FoodStoresWhoLikeToFucsk

I realize that a couple of spambots have been activated recently, such as the Rustock botnet. Is there anything being done to truly counter this assault? Of course, the best approach is never to open or respond to spam emails. It only takes one idiot to make it financially worthwhile for these lower than whatever is lower than scum's excretions. Nonetheless, something needs to be done which will start making email spam less lucrative, hopefully with penalties.

What are your feelings on spam and its irradication?

 

[Madalch]

Spammers are an excellent argument for the creation of Soylent Green.

 

[I Ratant]

I haven't gotten any in a long time!
Roadrunner filters out a lot of it.
Checking, I found only 4 in the past week or so in the JUNK box.

 

[Ducky]

Procmail and regular expressions, as well as milter daemons are your friend.

 

[KoihimeNakamura]

gmail's pretty efficient at filtering it out.

 

[Unlike a Bull]

The amount of email spam recently is incomprehensible. I've been getting well over 700 per day (!). Types of spam with subjects like this for instance:

ThisPokrnSourceIsDedicatedToPa55ionateAmatteurBabesFromCollegeAndFast-FoodStoresWhoLikeToFucsk

I realize that a couple of spambots have been activated recently, such as the Rustock botnet. Is there anything being done to truly counter this assault? Of course, the best approach is never to open or respond to spam emails. It only takes one idiot to make it financially worthwhile for these lower than whatever is lower than scum's excretions. Nonetheless, something needs to be done which will start making email spam less lucrative, hopefully with penalties.

What are your feelings on spam and its irradication?

I was disappointed to see that the red text wasn't a link ... You wouldn't mind forwarding that email to me would you?

Just kidding. I have my own source for AmatteurBabesFromCollegeAndFast-FoodStoresWhoLikeToFucsk.

 

[kuroyume0161]

As far as I am concerned, filters aren't a solution. They are only a band-aid to cover up the real injury. And, while false positives are rare, they do still happen. I have customers who don't get my emails because of their filters - luckily my second yahoo account usually gets through. And when I had server filtration, many important emails never reached my inbox.

Whether you ever see the spam or not, it is out there flooding hubs and servers and choking the internet. Estimates are that spam email accounts for over 90% of ALL internet traffic. Imagine if we could reclaim that!

Good thing about the web is that you chose to get the information. Email isn't something that you can do that with.

 

[rjh01]

How come you get heaps of spam and I get hardly any?

 

[Andrew Wiggin]

How come you get heaps of spam and I get hardly any?

Go to 4-chan, go onto any board you have to click the 'yeah, I'm like totally an adult' disclaimer for, and start clicking on random links. I'd imagine the 'free passwords to porn sites, just sign here' offers are probably a good place to start. Fill out any forms you find. Pretty soon you'll have all the spam you need. A few new viruses to keep your computer company too, if you're lucky.

A

 

[kuroyume0161]

How come you get heaps of spam and I get hardly any?

I've had the same email address for at least 10 years. It is almost impossible to avoid having it added to some spam-list after this long - and once it's added it is passed about to all the spammer networks (even if it were no longer viable).

The problem isn't that the volume is reconcilable with that but that the spam emails are just pouring in. I get dozens and dozens of the same crap recently - about 20 or so an hour with the same or similar subject. Basically, it isn't as much about the email being available as much as the volume being ramped up as of late.

Yeah, I could change my email address and be relatively unspammed for a while but eventually one is going to slip and one's email address will be harvested. It can happen just about anywhere - forums, websites, being in someone's contacts, tweeting, etc.

To be honest, only within the past few years have I become aware of the means to protect from broadcasting my email address. It is difficult. Just like piracy, if you use an email you will eventually be caught. Depends upon your internet visibility and where you go therein.

Also note that some ISPs provide various spam filters to you automatically or as part of your package. You may think that you are not receiving any spam but there may be a vast number hitting a server filter wall before being added to your server email list. As I said, just because you don't see spam in your inbox doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

 

[Soapy Sam]

My email has been in use as long. I get maybe 5-10 a day, which go straight into the spam folder. I check it once a week and (very rarely) move something to the inbox. I suspect what you do on the net is the biggest variable affecting how much (and what kind of) spam you get.

 

[rjh01]

I have had my e-mail address for at least 10 years myself. if my ISP protects me from spam then it does not advertise it.

What I do to protect myself is that I do not do things like what Andrew suggests above.

I know my gmail account gets about 200 spam e-mails a month which is moved automatically to the spam folder. It is very rare any get past that. I do not pass this e-mail address on to many people. No idea how they got my e-mail address.

There is a way to alter your e-mail address when you give you e-mail address out so that if you get spam you know who gave the spam org your e-mail address. It is somewhere in this forum.

 

[kuroyume0161]

Once the cat is out of the bag it is like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted (to mix idioms). My email address used to be a 'mailto:' link on my web site. I eventually learned that these can be harvested by bots. The latest is an image but, again, too late. I've definitely been to many sites which were probably a bit shady on privacy.

Still, just because you were cautious or maintain a strict control over your email address doesn't mean that there aren't billions of emails pounding the internet every day - estimates are at around 100 billion spam emails per day. It isn't my responsibility to do everything in my power to go unnoticed. That isn't even guaranteed. Plenty of these bots simply construct random email addresses hoping to find a victim at the other end. Remaining safe and hidden from spammers doesn't alleviate the problem.

I'm not looking for personal solutions to spam in my inbox. What we need is a solution to get rid of spam clogging the arteries of the internet and choking it to death.

 

[rjh01]

One option is to get ISPs to stop their people sending out spam. If any computer starts sending out spam the ISP stops the connection until the problem is fixed. Which may include getting a better virus checker.

If any ISP does not do everything in its power to block spam then it too is blocked. The main problem is that this will require 80-90% of the world's ISPs to co-operate.

Edit. Just fixed the tag. It now links to heaps of threads about spam.

 

[BenBurch]

I have a solution to spam; When you catch a spammer, you fly them halfway across the ocean. How they get the rest of the way across is up to them.

 

[kuroyume0161]

One option is to get ISPs to stop their people sending out spam. If any computer starts sending out spam the ISP stops the connection until the problem is fixed. Which may include getting a better virus checker.

If any ISP does not do everything in its power to block spam then it too is blocked. The main problem is that this will require 80-90% of the world's ISPs to co-operate.

Edit. Just fixed the tag. It now links to heaps of threads about spam.

Part of the problem is distinguishing legal 'spammers' (companies emailing their many customers legitimately, aka bulk emailing) from the others. Some people have suggested that companies register to be considered 'legal' for bulk emailing. But if the registration is free or reasonably priced it is guaranteed that spammers will also register so that they can continue to spew their crap under the guise of a legal business.

Another part of the problem is the use of zombie networks to spread out the load so as to reduce the appearance of being a spammer - the number of emails per zombie isn't as obvious as spam compared to millions from one source.

One 'quick' solution would be to have ISPs block as close to the spam source as possible. This would protect more of the internet hubs and ISPs from having to deal with the stream of spam as it traverses the planet. Not sure if that would truly have a beneficial effect over time. This, again, would require cooperation and capitulation.

Thanks for the tag update!

 

[Lolly]

I'm not bothered much by spam. My ISP filters it and I get a report once a month showing what's been stopped by the filter. There's usually only a few on the list, so I assume that the big-time spammers haven't got my email addresses. Without the ISP filter, I'd find it annoying having to see stupid spam. I'd be extremely irritated if I was getting 700 a day, I don't know how you stand that.