How Many Ways Can You Spell V1@gra? Building on previous research (Cockerham, 2004), Brian Hayes attempts to find the limits of Viagra-spammer ingenuity.
posted on Jun 27, 2007 - View this thread

Blue Security shuts down It was just a few days ago that Blue Security was beating their chest, straight off a 'victory' over spammers. Now though, the company is conceding defeat.
posted on May 18, 2006 - View this thread

Microsoft settles with spammer Richter for $7m and Richter does a little happy dance. $7 million is chump change for this scumbag. Microsoft, where is my cut of that 7 million?
posted on Aug 10, 2005 - View this thread

First Felony Spam Convictions
Hopefully the first of many convictions of these bottom feeders.
posted on Nov 4, 2004 - View this thread

The scum behind the spam "These anti-spammers, most of them are unemployed people. . .No life, miserable. They thrive on attention. They have their little newsgroups, and they argue with each other. They're their own worst enemies. I used to care what they think, but not anymore." Now, presumably, Scott Richter may have Metafilter to add to his list of projected insecurities.
posted on Feb 2, 2004 - View this thread

Movable Type 2.64 contains a major vulnerability to spammers. The spam hole, which exists in all versions of the program downloaded before November 26, centers around the mt-send-entry.cgi script, which can be co-opted by spammers who then use your domain and resources to do their dirty work. Users are encouraged to download and install the new "secured" version of mt-send-entry.cgi or to remove the file from their installation altogether. (If it is not being used, it can be safely deleted without affecting other MT functionality.) The question does arise though, with literally tens of thousands of MT users affected by this vulnerability, why didn't anyone at Six Apart think that this news warranted an announcement anywhere beyond the Movable Type news blog?
posted on Dec 4, 2003 - View this thread

Penis Enlargement Web Ads Prompt Calif. Spam Rage
The guy lost his cool because the pop up spammers basically unleashed all their tricks on him and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
So he threatened to unleash anthrax on them, to use a power drill and an ice pick and to shoot them.
He doesn't own any guns nor did he have access to anthrax and yet he now faces up to 5 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
Does this set a bad precedent for fighting back against spammers? Or did he get what he deserved for threatening them like this? The case raises some interesting issues about how hard you can fight back against spammers and pop up 'noids.
posted on Nov 21, 2003 - View this thread

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.
posted on Nov 17, 2003 - View this thread

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)
posted on Nov 11, 2003 - View this thread

Italian spammers face jail. The ruling follows estimates by the European Commission that spam e-mails cost EU companies approximately 2.25bn euros in lost productivity last year.
posted on Sep 4, 2003 - View this thread

"Mail order brides are not British Airway's normal line of business." BBC reporter wonders where his spam comes from and is surprised to learn that a major airline has become an unwitting accomplice with a trail leading through South America, Moscow, and Scandinavia.
posted on Jul 2, 2003 - View this thread

So you’ve just received a junk email encouraging you to visit a website for some irresistible pornography or to consolidate your debts! Well, it’s time to oblige the people who fill your mailbox with spam. Let FriedSPAM visit their sites for you -- about a million times! After all, you are only doing what the spammers are asking you to do. (via Pop Culture Junk Mail)
posted on Jun 24, 2003 - View this thread

So... Microsoft sue some spammers. Isn't this an unique case of the nut trying to hit back at the sledgehammer?
posted on Jun 17, 2003 - View this thread

Fighting back: Spammers want e-mail addresses. Give them e-mail addresses. Tons of e-mail addresses. This handy PHP script will add as many fake e-mail addresses to your web site as you want. 20 is the default, with command and space delimited, just like this:

lebsda@fihnekyjvbj.de, tzckk@zcwgituizwjgy.eu, lzteth@gvxmzqphddvhsd.de, wspvnmpitk@adlruenmiupuglcqn.nl, toulr@cttzrgrb.it, gxgb@yqkeermxyxxozvfws.dk, ucldeo@lwytvqqq.nl, brddshal@qmyhquiqtbaeggpx.com, ovu@zzxlbismicnqsuiubkfl.de, txxewr@ogpzcomgrhkd.br, goluv@twcnkfeghsh.com, tfexbuous@heev.ar, zjgeaztzvm@rvonhfrd.de, nhsgikjvjb@stncbqtnyyclaflm.jp, svgfdh@zeynvdd.nl, hxqios@yrdlshpyscndoslt.de, fxglj@sfkdxgyadbqk.ca, mtskzv@carbd.de, pigm@vnkcalneewdulz.com, nqnjwldpfk@ecifc.edu

And each call to the web site will give the spam harvester 20 spanking new addresses. (Web site is german, but the script is in english)
posted on Aug 26, 2002 - View this thread

Spam King Living High In The Bayou Ronnie Scelson, a professional spammer, openly discusses his business and attitudes about spam. Reminiscent of Barry Dennis's infamous "Why I love spam" article recently featured on C|Net.
posted on Jul 1, 2002 - View this thread

Bernard Shifman is a moron spammer. I love detailed spam wars that are this fully documented. Any other ones come to mind? link via GMSV
posted on Jan 8, 2002 - View this thread

How low can we go? Spammers are soliciting funds for bogus charities to help the victims of the disaster.
posted on Sep 13, 2001 - View this thread

Spammers stoop to new low. I received an unsolicited spam this week from MonsterHut, extolling the virtues of their "products" which are "email marketing" (they're a spam cannon). After reporting it at Spamcop, I received an interesting email from their bandwidth host. It seems that before they could cancel MonsterHut's account for violating their terms of service, MonsterHut began suing them. The worst part? A judge granted MonsterHut a temporary restraining order, forcing Paetec to keep their site online while they continue spamming. How far will spammers go to get their word out? When's it going to stop?
posted on Aug 30, 2001 - View this thread

Who knew? Apparently porn spammers were actually providing us with valuable service all along! (Me, I'm springing for the penis enlargement.)
posted on May 19, 2001 - View this thread

Vigilante against spam: "A self-appointed global army has taken on the mass Internet mailings that annoy users and crash systems. It is a demanding and risky hobby."
posted on Apr 16, 2001 - View this thread

MIT spam study find instant wealth, sexy-coeds just a click away. A two-year M.I.T. study of unsolicited email, or "spam," has concluded that you can earn $50,000 in the next 90 days by sending e-mail from your home, which is located near a college where sex-crazed coeds are anxious to meet you.
posted on Feb 23, 2001 - View this thread

Network Solutions sells out. The once-monopoly has decided to pool all their domain name registration information and sell it to the spammers of the world. From their marketing website, "Taking advantage of our position as a market leader, we have organized our pool of over 15 million registered domain names into a customer database of over 5 million unique customers. Our data service offers access to the key decision-makers behind millions of leading Web businesses."

True, there is a privacy policy, and you can try and protect yourself following their instructions, but it would seem that once the cat's out of the bag... And, what's to keep someone from purchasing the database of email addresses, fax numbers, telephone numbers, and addresses and selling them off to someone else?
posted on Feb 15, 2001 - View this thread

Cell phone spammers will be hated more than email spammers, but I just hope someone stops Plugout.com before some competitors think it's a good idea.
posted on Apr 11, 2000 - View this thread