Thread Tools
Old April 24, 2003, 06:52   #1
FrustratedPoet
PtWDG Gathering Storm
Emperor
 
FrustratedPoet's Avatar
 
Local Time: 00:04
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: All Glory To The Hypnotoad!
Posts: 4,223
Where spam comes from.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2969783.stm

A study on e-mail spam in the US proves what we knew all along. In fact, it was blindingly obvious from the beginning, not that the researchers let that stop them.

Quote:
For anyone plagued by junk e-mails, the question that often baffles most is how did the spammers get your address.

US researchers at the Center for Democracy and Technology set out to answer this question in the summer of 2002.

They found that e-mail addresses posted on websites or in newsgroups attract the most spam.

Spam is estimated to account for up to 40% of global e-mail traffic and is causing a massive headache for businesses, which are losing billions in productivity.
__________________
If I'm posting here then Counterglow must be down.
FrustratedPoet is offline  
Old April 24, 2003, 06:59   #2
Dauphin
Civilization IV PBEMPolyCast Team
Deity
 
Dauphin's Avatar
 
Local Time: 01:04
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: Seouenaca, Cantium
Posts: 12,426
director@fbi.gov
__________________
"Everybody knows you never go full retard. You went full retard man. Never go full retard"
Dauphin is offline  
Old April 24, 2003, 07:02   #3
Skanky Burns
Alpha Centauri Democracy GameACDG The Cybernetic ConsciousnessC4DG Team Alpha CentauriansApolytoners Hall of FameACDG3 Spartans
 
Skanky Burns's Avatar
 
Local Time: 11:04
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Skanky Father
Posts: 16,530
Thank goodness that research was carried out.
__________________
I'm building a wagon! On some other part of the internets, obviously (but not that other site).
Skanky Burns is offline  
Old April 24, 2003, 12:37   #4
optimus2861
Chieftain
 
Local Time: 20:04
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Halifax, NS
Posts: 58
Newsgroups are probably the worst; the spammers can easily harvest thousands of email addresses just by having an automated script retrieve the headers of all the articles on a news server. A lot of them will be invalid addresses these days, but still more than enough of them are valid to make it worth the spammers' while to check them.

Google doesn't help in this regard; you can't use an invalid email address when posting to newsgroups via their website .
__________________
"If you doubt that an infinite number of monkeys at an infinite number of typewriters would eventually produce the combined works of Shakespeare, consider: it only took 30 billion monkeys and no typewriters." - Unknown
optimus2861 is offline  
Old April 24, 2003, 12:41   #5
Guynemer
C4WDG The GooniesCiv4 SP Democracy GameBtS Tri-League
Emperor
 
Guynemer's Avatar
 
Local Time: 20:04
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Mar 1999
Location: here
Posts: 8,349
My favorite spam is the spam I get on at least a thrice-daily basis that asks me if I'm sick of spam.
__________________
"My nation is the world, and my religion is to do good." --Thomas Paine
"Strange is it that our bloods, of colour, weight, and heat, pour'd all together, would quite confound distinction, yet stand off in differences so mighty." --William Shakespeare
"The subject of onanism is inexhaustable." --Sigmund Freud
Guynemer is offline  
Old April 24, 2003, 12:52   #6
Spec
Emperor
 
Spec's Avatar
 
Local Time: 00:04
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: of poor english grammar
Posts: 4,307
Quote:
Originally posted by Guynemer
My favorite spam is the spam I get on at least a thrice-daily basis that asks me if I'm sick of spam.
I seem to get a whole lot from companies that can enlarge my penis up to 4 inches....Why would I want that kind of handicap? 12 inches would be much to long for my girlfriend!!!


Spec.
__________________
-Never argue with an idiot; He will bring you down to his level and beat you with experience.
Spec is offline  
Old April 24, 2003, 12:53   #7
Alex
Emperor
 
Alex's Avatar
 
Local Time: 21:04
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Mar 1999
Location: Brasil
Posts: 3,958
I love the one that says "This is not spam"
__________________
'Yep, I've been drinking again.'
Alex is offline  
Old April 24, 2003, 13:11   #8
Apocalypse
Alpha Centauri Democracy GameCivilization III Democracy GameCivilization III MultiplayerCivilization III PBEMMacInterSite Democracy Game: Apolyton TeamCivilization II MultiplayerCivilization IV: MultiplayerCiv4 SP Democracy Game
Emperor
 
Apocalypse's Avatar
 
Local Time: 19:04
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: Texas
Posts: 4,253
Quote:
Originally posted by Spec
I seem to get a whole lot from companies that can enlarge my penis up to 4 inches....Why would I want that kind of handicap? 12 inches would be much to long for my girlfriend!!!
Not if she gets her cervix dialated.
__________________
"Yay Apoc!!!!!!!" - bipolarbear
"At least there were some thoughts went into Apocalypse." - Urban Ranger
"Apocalype was a great game." - DrSpike
"In Apoc, I had one soldier who lasted through the entire game... was pretty cool. I like apoc for that reason, the soldiers are a bit more 'personal'." - General Ludd
Apocalypse is offline  
Old April 24, 2003, 17:20   #9
MBD
Chieftain
 
Local Time: 00:04
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: May 1999
Posts: 39
Two kinds of spam that I particularly like:

1) The ones that are from the "Mail Delivery Subsystem" telling me that my email was undeliverable and to "check the transcript for details" when I know I didn't send any email. I got six of those in a row at one time.

2) The ones that have my address as the sender.
MBD is offline  
Old April 24, 2003, 17:26   #10
ceroomaster
Civilization III PBEMNationStates
Prince
 
Local Time: 00:04
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Casnewydd, Cymru
Posts: 372
Well, I've just given out my bank details to a CEO in Nigeria, apparently he's giving m,e a few million pounds because he's not entilied to it because it'll get taxed or something. My penis will be enlarged to 12". MSN 8 is fantastic, so I'm going to download that because it fights spam! And I'm gonna run this .com file I had from big@boss.com.

Oh wait, no. I'm *not* an idiot.
(realises that is a debatable point)


Regards
__________________
-Sir T
ceroomaster is offline  
Old April 24, 2003, 19:59   #11
Q Classic
Emperor
 
Q Classic's Avatar
 
Local Time: 19:04
Local Date: November 1, 2010
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: The cities of Orly and Nowai
Posts: 4,228
it's kinda clever, quite a few places are now moving to list emails as:

apolyton_at_apolyton.net

unfortunately, all it takes is a simple script to bypass that...
__________________
B♭3
Q Classic is offline  
Old April 24, 2003, 20:21   #12
Skanky Burns
Alpha Centauri Democracy GameACDG The Cybernetic ConsciousnessC4DG Team Alpha CentauriansApolytoners Hall of FameACDG3 Spartans
 
Skanky Burns's Avatar
 
Local Time: 11:04
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Skanky Father
Posts: 16,530
I like the apolyton method. Where they store a valid email address, allow anyone to send email to that address, but don't let anyone actually see that address. Any spam would have to go through apolyton's system and as such would be prevented from doing so.

Or you could just get an account with a decent provider that removes spam.
__________________
I'm building a wagon! On some other part of the internets, obviously (but not that other site).
Skanky Burns is offline  
Old April 24, 2003, 20:23   #13
Paradox
Chieftain
 
Local Time: 00:04
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Kent, UK + Cape Town,S.A
Posts: 50
Quote:
Originally posted by MBD
Two kinds of spam that I particularly like:

.1......

2) The ones that have my address as the sender.
Err didnt you mean particualrly DISlike ....
__________________
"Some people are alive, simply because its against the law to kill them"

"Freedom is not the right to do as you please, but the liberty to do as you ought"

Last edited by Paradox; April 24, 2003 at 20:50.
Paradox is offline  
Old April 24, 2003, 20:26   #14
Paradox
Chieftain
 
Local Time: 00:04
Local Date: November 2, 2010
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Kent, UK + Cape Town,S.A
Posts: 50
Ive just done a quick calculation of the time Ive wasted in last 10 yrs clicking spam mail from hotmail and turfing in the trash box.....scary thought....multiply that by say 20% of world pop with access to email + net and you have a rough approx of
20% * 6.2 billion * 30 secs to delete mail = approx 10 million yrs lost in productivity per day worldwide lost to spam...and its not even a human doing the sabotage!!!.....WTF???!!! And theyre worried about productivity in the workplace :hmmm

Scary......
__________________
"Some people are alive, simply because its against the law to kill them"

"Freedom is not the right to do as you please, but the liberty to do as you ought"

Last edited by Paradox; April 24, 2003 at 20:52.
Paradox is offline  
 

Bookmarks

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 20:04.


Design by Vjacheslav Trushkin, color scheme by ColorizeIt!.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Apolyton Civilization Site | Copyright © The Apolyton Team