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Lots of talk about spam around here lately. It is a really interesting topic. Spam is so annoying, yet at the same time it is crucial not to overreact because spam is a byproduct of the free internet. The only way to really stop it is to do something like only allowing registered and trackable devices to connect to the internet. So I've always seen anti-spam tactics as the most likely route for someone to use who wanted to control the internet - who could argue they don't want to stop spam? It's not like terrorism or k.p. which are just abstractly bad things; spam is an actual everyday bad thing for almost everyone on the internet.

I think we just have to live with it. It's the noise in the system.

Anyway, here's a funny look at how inventive these horrible people can be:

Because GMail (and other popular email clients these days) blocks images by default, porn spammers have now begun to use 1980s style ASCII art in order to get their message across....

I confidently expect to see a renaissance in erotic ASCII art in the coming months....
Now that takes me back to the BBS days.
- jim 12-03-2004 3:04 am [link] [add a comment]

Umm, this doesn't sound good:

Former CIA Director George J. Tenet yesterday called for new security measures to guard against attacks on the United States that use the Internet, which he called "a potential Achilles' heel."

"I know that these actions will be controversial in this age when we still think the Internet is a free and open society with no control or accountability," he told an information-technology security conference in Washington, "but ultimately the Wild West must give way to governance and control."
Who's he working for now?
- jim 12-03-2004 2:54 am [link] [1 comment]

I understand the frustration, but this isn't the right solution:

Lycos Europe's "Make love not spam" campaign was intended as a way for users to fight back against the avalanche of junk mail messages coming their way.

Participants were encouraged to download the Lycos screensaver which, when their PC was idle, would then send lots of data traffic to websites that peddle the goods and services mentioned in spam messages.

Lycos said the idea was to get the spam sites running at 95% capacity and generate big bandwidth bills for the spammers behind the sites.
It is kind of funny though. Apparently it worked a bit better than expected and brought a few servers to their knees:
Two of the sites being bombarded by data have been completely knocked offline. One other site has been responding to requests only intermittently as it struggles to cope with the traffic the screensaver is pointing its way.

The downing of the sites could dent Lycos claims that what it is doing does not amount to a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS). In such attacks thousands of computers bombard sites with data in an attempt to overwhelm them.

- jim 12-03-2004 2:41 am [link] [add a comment]

The Broadband Daily is a brand new group weblog featuring a bunch of bloggers I read already plus some new ones all opining on, you guessed it, broadband. Looks very nice.
- jim 12-02-2004 9:09 pm [link] [add a comment]

On distinguishing humans from robots, which is something we've been dealing with around here lately.
- jim 12-02-2004 6:37 pm [link] [4 comments]

Microsoft launches MSN Spaces:

With MSN Spaces, you can easily create and manage your blog from your computer or your mobile phone. It's a great way to share information and photos with your friends and family. And best of all, it's free!
You know, Bill Gates is right, Microsoft is all about innovation. A blog service? At the very end of 2004? Who would have thought?
- jim 12-02-2004 5:48 pm [link] [4 comments]

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