Tracking Spam to the Source

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Posted by michael on Saturday February 9, 2002 @08:39AM from the hunt-the-wumpus dept.

cygnusx writes: "MSNBC is carrying a Wall Street Journal article on one reporter's attempts to track the spam she receives to the source. Armed with a few Hotmail and Yahoo accounts, reporter Stacy Forster actually responded to most of the barrage of spam she began to receive after a week or so. Not quite the best investigative jounalism ever seen, but still a good glimpse (or so I thought) at those who send us those unloved missives about "exciting business opportunities" and "millions of $$$ waiting"."

9 of 356 comments (clear)

Re:All we need is.. by reemul · 2002-02-09 08:48 · Score: 3, Funny

Bloody hell, is there any way to filter out all posts with the phrase "beowulf cluster of these"? I'd even give up my Jon Katz filter if I could turn off these mindless attempts at humor. "All your base" died months ago, why the hell is this still popular?

Taco, Hemos, anyone, is there some way to stop seeing these damn things?

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You're just jealous 'cuz the voices talk to *me*
Re:Just use PINE and... by fatgraham · 2002-02-09 09:02 · Score: 2, Funny

i just close my eyes and hope it goes away.

luckily outlook crashes before i open my eyes again. (karma whoring microsoft bashing there, i find it moderatly stable nowadays)
Don't you think... by whipping_post · 2002-02-09 09:17 · Score: 5, Funny

...the reporter could have gotten more info if she didn't keep telling these people that she is a reporter?!?!

How's this for investigative journalism?
1. Locate Spammers
2. Call and explain to spammers that you are a reporter
3. Determine if spammer has hung up
4. If step 3 is yes, call spammer back and leave message
5. Repeat
Re:All we need is.. by Anonymous Coward · 2002-02-09 09:22 · Score: 1, Funny

All your beowulf are belong to us
Re:maybe if we stop answering it... by dangermouse · 2002-02-09 09:24 · Score: 5, Funny

The only thing I can think of is being extra careful to NEVER look into an e-mail that even looks like spam

I looked at the trap, Ray.
Re:All we need is.. by juju2112 · 2002-02-09 10:01 · Score: 3, Funny

You could do what I do -- go into your prefs and mark all 'funny' comments as -6. It sounds extreme, and at first I felt like I was missing something by not having funny comments. But then every time I turned it off, I could just feel brain cells dying.

YMMV, though.
Spam from my long lost cousin Jimmy by fragamus · 2002-02-09 10:29 · Score: 2, Funny

Once I got a spam from someone claiming to be my cousin Jimmy. He said that he had found a place that would host our web site for free. My plan was to find the sender and arrange a meeting and when it wasn't the real "Jimmy" to freak out and ask WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH JIMMY?!?!?! I sent "Jimmy" an email saying it was good to hear from him, and that I sometimes still felt guilty about what we did to that guy up at the lake (fiction). My message to Jimmy just bounced, which made me wonder what the heck the reason was for this spam. I was prepared to send them real $$$ just to have my little joke.
Re:How to track who sold yours email to spammers by Anonymous Coward · 2002-02-09 16:36 · Score: 1, Funny

I operate a service that collects emails for a private mailing list.

In other words, you're a spammer?

I also operate a semi-public smtp server

And a poor mailserver admin.

Every now and then I get an 8 page rant from some joker

I have no sympathy for morons like you. You are a spammer, and deserver everything you get.
Mail-order Diplomas by Tablizer · 2002-02-09 17:21 · Score: 2, Funny

I don't know why she says mail-order diplomas are worthless. My cousin landed a great job as a financial analyst at an energy trading company called Enron with just such a diploma.

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Table-ized A.I.