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Tracking Spam to the Source

Posted by michael on 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"."

4 of 356 comments (clear)

  1. Re:All we need is.. by reemul · · 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?

    --
    You're just jealous 'cuz the voices talk to *me*
  2. Don't you think... by whipping_post · · 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

  3. Re:maybe if we stop answering it... by dangermouse · · 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.

  4. Re:All we need is.. by juju2112 · · 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.