atmaspheric | endeavors

Members are sending out hundreds of thousands of unsolicited messages to constituents although they unanimously approved a law aimed at reducing the flow of junk e-mail. [New York Times]

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In an article about the Can-SPAM Act, The Washington Times reports that Professor Lessig’s spam bounty proposal has found its way into the legislation, which is set to go into effect January 1st. Read the details here.
[Lessig News]

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There’s a new round of spams that can be hard for SpamSieve to catch if it hasn’t seen many of them before … [Michael Tsai's Weblog]
Add this rule and they should be captured…

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The House approves the first national anti-spam measure. The legislation encourages the Federal Trade Commission to create a do-not-spam list of e-mail addresses and includes penalties for spammers of up to five years in prison. [Wired News]

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In a bid to fight junk e-mail, Yahoo is developing technology that would automatically authenticate the sender of a message so that unwanted solicitations could be blocked. [Wired News]

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I’ve been clearing out quite a few spam messages allegedly from a site called cardercrew which is being abused as a joe job. Here’s a list of what you might consider buying from these guys…

Heroin, in liquid and crystal form.
Rocket fuel and Tomahawk rockets (serious enquiries only).
Other rockets (Air-to-Air), orders in batches of [...]

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Until now, antispam developers and their products have played defense only. But now, one activist wants spam filters to automatically launch attacks against suspected spammers’ sites to shut them down. [Wired News]

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British lawmakers plan to use a new tactic to stop the torrent of junk e-mail spam that floods in from overseas: extraditing the mass-mailers and bringing them to trial in the United Kingdom. [Wired News]

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MT-Blacklist 1.5 is officially out. Installed and fighting comment spammers… took all of 5 minutes. Now running a blacklist of over 450 thanks to the pre-installed config.

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Mailblocks today announced availability of its spam-free, Web-based e-mail service optimized for Mac OS X… [MacMinute]
Have not used this but have heard good things… now supports Mac.

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New from the Pew Internet & American Life Project…
Spam: How it is hurting email and degrading life on the Internet

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The Golden State wins its first antispam judgment, against marketing firm PW Marketing. The company is fined $2 million under a 1998 statute; the state expects spammers will be easier to prosecute under its tougher new law. [Wired News]

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Ever searching for paying customers, spammers have turned their attention to blogs, where they mass-post target URLs in the comments section. [Wired News]

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A new report reveals what most had already suspected: People hate getting spam. And a number of them are using e-mail less frequently because of it. [Wired News]

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The U.S. Senate votes to outlaw deceptive spam and to set up a “do-not-spam” registry for those who do not want to receive unsolicited commercial e-mail. [CNET News.com]
It will be interesting to see how this is enforced for the really bad guys since they tend to fake all of their addressing info. Marketers better [...]

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Some of us are all too familiar with those emails in which an alleged former dignitary of the Nigerian government proposes to set up a bank account where millions of dollars - often a fallen dictator’s ill-gained fortune - can be kept safely. In return, you’ll get a percentage of the stash.
Most people [...]

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The premise sounds simple: To cut down on junk e-mail, simply submit your addresses to a “do-not-spam” list that marketers would have to check to avoid fines. With more than 50 million phone numbers already on a federal do-not-call list, many e-mail users are eager for a no-spam counterpart. [Wired News]

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Spam filters, spam blockers, spam blasters: there’s no shortage of tools intended to thwart the biggest irritant in an increasingly e-mail-dependent world. But Paul Tyma, co-founder of Mailinator, a free online service, has a simpler solution to offer. [New York Times: Technology]

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A possible solution for everyone?

The problem has intensified in the past couple of weeks, but the good news is that as more people have been hit by comment spam, actual solutions are beginning to emerge.

Specifically, Jay Allen’s MT-BlackList is a blacklist-based solution to comment spam for Movable Type weblogs. It checks the comment fields (body, [...]

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The importance attached to e-mail has led consumers to take a mostly low-tech approach to dealing with spam. Just 16 percent said they downloaded spam filters and 36 percent said they used spam-reporting buttons provided by Internet service providers and e-mail programs.
Instead of relying on technological fixes, consumers are using common sense. Over 63 percent [...]

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