|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
According to a report by The Register's Kieren McCarthy, British linguistics expert Prof. David Crystal, author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language and The Cambridge Encyclopedia , says that "email, or communication using Internet technology, is the third revolutionary step in mankind's ability to communicate, the first two being learning how to speak and how to write." Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week, Crystal argued that "email is unique in that it is a "framing" language. People can take the third paragraph of an email, copy paste and respond to that. They can take the fifth paragraph and do the same. This flexibility (and presumably speed is an essential aspect) has not been possible before," according to McCarthy's report. I agree. Email is the best thing about the Internet. However, scum-sucking, bottom-feeding spammers are threatening to ruin it. In a Globe & Mail op-ed piece this week, Curtis James, president of a New York-based management consulting firm, notes that "Spam isn't just a nuisance: It's expensive. A recent European Union study concluded worldwide spam costs $9.4-billion (U.S.) a year when you add up the time it takes to download and delete while on-line. James also notes: "The law has a difficult time defining spam. Is it any unwanted e-mail? What if you send a message to some authority asking them a question, but they don't want to hear from you -- is that spam?" I hate spam, I have some 20 email accounts, and I probably receive between 25 and 50 spam messages a day. It is a far worse nuisance than hard-copy junk mail. I routinely consign obvious spam to the trash, unopened, and I never respond to it. Even if, perchance, a spam solicitation advertised a product or service I actually wanted at an attractive price, I would still refuse to purchase it on principle. But lately, it's been even more than an annoyance. The ISP I have used since 1997 is Auracom, and they have given me pretty good service. However, I've recently been getting emails sent through the Auracom server bouncing back with messages like this: ----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors ----- Now, spam is annoying, but this is:
(a) rude and supercilious
Another example of anti-spam overkill is found in this AP report by Justin Bachman: Backman notes that "hundreds of thousands of e-mails sent by EarthLink Inc. customers to America Online accounts were rejected and lost over a period spanning at least 10 days...An AOL spokesman said software designed to restrict junk e-mail, or spam, was to blame.
The article quotes AOL spokesman Andrew Weinstein saying the company uses software that constantly monitors potential spam and that the filtering was not limited to material from EarthLink.
"One of our top priorities is protecting our members from spam," Weinstein said. "Our system automatically shields members from servers that send significant volumes of spam. A small percentage of EarthLink servers fell into that category."
I think AOL should re-think its priorities. Spam is bad, but this is worse. Their first priority should be that their customers receive their mail. Can you imagine the postal service burning all mail sent from a certain postmark because that post office had been used for junk mail bulk mailings? If anti-spam hysteria makes email an undependable medium, then Prof. Crystal's vision of email as the third communications revolution is down the tubes.
Not that AOL is without sin here either. I get plenty of spam sent from AOL servers.
What to do?
First and foremost, never respond to a spam message, and never, ever, ever purchase anything that has been advertised via spam.
As for spam remedies, these resources might prove helpful to some:
The Direct Marketing Association (http://www.the-dma.org/aboutdma/index.shtml) represents direct marketing. If you are adamant about not receiving advertisements from anyone in the future go to (http://www.the-dma.org/index.shtml) (http://www.e-mps.org/en/ind_static.html) and place your e-mail address on an International Remove list.
Here's another spam-fighting plan:
Julian Haight 's SpamCop, which advocates "Protecting the internet community through technology, not legislation," helps you punish spammers for sending you their junk mail. SpamCop's service is free. "Often, spammers lose their accounts and even get charged 'cleanup fees' by their internet providers," says Mr. Haight. "Unfortunately, life is still too easy for the spammer. They sign up with new accounts as fast as we shut them down. By reporting spam, you can help to turn the tide - and hopefully cause spammers some pain in the process. SpamCop makes this otherwise slow and technical task quick and easy."
Here's how you do it:
SpamCop will send email on your behalf to the appropriate network administrator, but before using SpamCop, you must agree to the folowing terms: " I will use SpamCop only on email which is unsolicited, bulk email. " I understand SpamCop uses my email address to send email to administrators. " Administrators will respond to this email both in person and automatically. I understand these replies are not spam. " I take full responsibility and assume all liability for email I send using SpamCop.
Note: If you are new to spam reporting in general, rather than a seasoned spam fighter trying SpamCop for the first time, you should also read some of the information in the FAQ on the SpamCop Website to help you send accurate and credible spam reports:
If you want a preview of how SpamCop works without giving out your email address, you can use the service's preview system. It will not send email on your behalf.
For a fee, SpamCop can also process your mail and filter out the spam before you ever see it. Filtered email is held for up to a week during which time you and the sender have an opportunity to release it.
Some of the main features of membership are: " Report spam with no waiting (no nag screen). " Maintain a white/black list of everyone who sends you email. " Flexible options to let you implement paranoid or very lax rules: " Block senders not on your whitelist " Block suspected spammers not on your whitelist " Block only senders on your blacklist " Filtered mail can be reported as spam with one click (no cutting and pasting) " Retrieve email from POP servers or forward it directly to your SpamCop account.
For more information, visit:
Spamcop Script is an AppleScript for submitting Spam to Spamcop.net via email from Outlook Express.
For more information or to download, visit: Norman De Forest, a volunteer with Chebucto Community Net in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is a crusader against e-mail spammers.
Mr. De Forest started his anti-spam campaign three years ago, after receiving an e-mail message with nearly 3,000 other addresses in the header of the message. The monster message disabled De Forest's e-mail account, so he traced the sender of the e-mail down through a concatenation of false servers and phoney addresses in order to register a complaint, and he hasn't looked back.
Mr. DeForest documents Internet abuses and posts them to his Website.
For more information, visit:
You can find the Abuse Net Anti-Spam site here: For information on fighting spam, visit this Web page: And then there's ORBS
Reader Marc Rassbach had some strong opinions about the ORBS organization whose Website URL I published in a previous article. I have been to the ORBS Website, but know little about them beyond that. As always, proceed with caution.
Marc wrote:
These people are net-terrorists.
They attack hosts without reasons...or at least when I asked for a reason they were unable to provide one. If people are going to accuse my site of generation of SPAM, I want to see proof.
And, when they FIND a hole, they publish it for others to exploit.
They have been accused of launching scanning probes against other networks, and in my case, they scanned my box 17 times.
A more informed choice is the realtime blackhole list, not ORBS.
Go read the commments about ORBS on the NANOG list...see what the network admins think of ORBS.
Please consider printing a retraction about recommending ORBS.
For the record, I did not recommend ORBS; just suggested that it might be a potential spam remedy to check out. Some of these anti-spam outfits seem to be pretty agressive, and self-righteous to boot. That's what worries me about this sort of vigilanteism. I'm not categorically against it, but there ample is potential for abuse. Please use your own judgment.
Dan Knight of Low End Mac comments on ORBS:
Although I don't like to use the kind of labels Marc Rassbach applies to ORBS, he is dead on the money in his assessment of their service. I use SIMS (Stalker Internet Mail Server, a freeware Mac-based program) to run two different mail servers. I chose SIMS some time ago as the best way to fight spam.
One powerful SIMS feature is the ability to link to a "known spammers" database such as ORBS or RBL. The email list for SIMS administrators has spent a lot of time discussing the pros and cons of various blocking services, so I've learned a lot from them.
From those discussions, it seems ORBS has no mercy. If they find an open relay, the will blacklist it. If they find a server that doesn't respond to their tests in the way the like, they will blacklist it. Any mail server is presumed guilty unless proved innocent. ORBS blacklists based on the possibility a server could be used to relay spam.
The Realtime Blackhole List (RBL) works just the opposite way. Mail servers are presumed acceptable unless they are known to relay spam -- something ORBS doesn't care about. RBL always contacts blacklisted servers and will remove them from the blacklist when they demonstrate that they no longer relay spam.
Of the several alternative blacklist services, I chose RBL as the sanest approach, since they wait until a server has been proved to relay spam before blocking it. It has greatly reduced (but certainly not eliminated) spam on the two domains I oversee.
Dan Knight
And that's the hell of it. I want to see the spammers go down, but I don't want to see email destroyed in the process (sort of the old "we had to destroy this village in order to save it" oxymoron from the VietNam war).
Server Racks
Online:
|
. |
Cool Mac Gear• iPod 1G-2G • iPod 3G • iPod 4G • iPod Mini • PowerBook-iBook • Keyboard Skins • Garageband
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
