MetaFilter posts tagged with spam and internet

The dry, technical language of Microsoft's October update did not indicate anything particularly untoward.

The Whelk — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:40:29 -0800

Its reach is impossible to measure precisely, but more than 3 million vulnerable machines may ultimately have been infected. : The inside story on the Conficker Worm at New Scientist.

Protect domain names for the Children!

TwelveTwo — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:31:07 -0800

"Each day, tens of thousands of our precious domain names are bought by greedy corporations and squandered for non-sustainable commercial development." But the Domain Name Preservation Society wants to help. Donate your names after you no longer need them, and they will retire protected within the sanctuary. Otherwise, what domains will our children be left with if we do not protect the endangered domain names of today?

Internet Users Unfamiliar With Terms

tapeguy — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 21:25:13 -0800

Research finds that 87% of internet users are unfamiliar with "podcasting" and 91% have never heard of "RSS". The study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project also found that only 3% of users still don't know what spam is. Here's a PDF of the findings.

Tiny teen takes on the giant one-eyed monster!

Turtles all the way down — Sat, 31 Jul 2004 09:23:14 -0800

Spamusement Poorly-drawn cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines. (via The Ultimate Insult)

First Anti-Spam Lawsuits filed by 4 Net Bigs

mcgraw — Wed, 10 Mar 2004 08:25:57 -0800

Microsoft, AOL, Earthlink, Yahoo sue hundreds in six lawsuits More here (registration req'd). Nation's largest spammers targeted in first lawsuits under Congressional Anti-Spam Legislation.

Clone blogs

moonbird — Mon, 17 Nov 2003 14:12:24 -0800

Clone blogs: spurious blogs that look real, but exist solely to purvey smut in a very shady way. They're becoming ever more clever, those spammers.

A pox on your house, Spammer

swerdloff — Tue, 11 Nov 2003 19:00:10 -0800

Spammers strike back? Well then call this return of the Webmaster Jedi. As a blogger and domain owner, I am sick of waking up to fifty new comments, all of which are spam for something of dubious legality. The fine folks at Kalsey are angry too. And they declared war. Lots of people stood up and took notice. What can you do to help stop this infestation? Blacklists and Bayesian filtering come to mind... (Via Smart Mobs)

Spam

lola — Tue, 30 Sep 2003 17:24:20 -0800

Spam: This Time It's Personal. Andy Markley was really looking forward to a work-free Labor Day weekend far away from his computer. But he made the mistake of checking his inbox before he left for his planned holiday.

Trackback to Guide Beginners

cbrody — Tue, 22 Jul 2003 01:35:08 -0800

Beginner's guide to trackback. Old news to most here, but with even Radio Userland now implementing the technology, trackback has the potential to be another kind of spam, with gratuitous self-links popping up all over the place. When everyone can blog, will the Blogosphere be the next victim of Usenet's neverending September? Whether providing "community support" or "publishing tool", how long before popular bloggers are forced to implement Bayesian trackback filters?

The Two Faces of AOL and Microsoft's Spam Policies

Pinwheel — Fri, 09 May 2003 09:08:17 -0800

Perhaps you've seen the new MSN commercials that use M$'s "spam-blocking" technology to support their ISP service. Maybe you've read fluff pieces like these, where AOL and Microsoft execs are allowed to wax poetic about their deep anti-spam convictions:

"'I get spam too, and I am as fed up with it as all of our members are,' AOL chief executive Jonathan F. Miller said yesterday." "'To help keep intruders at bay,' Microsoft said, "we must all do our part.'"

So what's this all about? "'AOL and Microsoft argue there is a place for legitimate unsolicited e-mail in the marketplace,' said Marc Berejka, Microsoft's senior director of public policy."

mathowie — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 10:48:09 -0800

SpamCon 2001 gets underway in one month. It's a meeting of the minds to crush spam and guys like this. But it's probably too late. Can legislation ever make a dent in spam? Are technical solutions possible (no open SMTP ports allowed)?

ParisParamus — Wed, 28 Mar 2001 19:15:25 -0800

What Would This Do To the 'Net? Would such legislation be Constitutional?

mathowie — Sun, 21 Nov 1999 16:58:48 -0800

Today on a web list I subscribe to, some members were complaining about spam and the need for sites to have privacy policies that promise not to sell your address. I have a hotmail address that I use whenever a site requires an email address and doesn't post a privacy policy. I hadn't checked my account in a month, but I did today and look what was in it. 74 useless messages in 30 days. Thanks spammers.