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Meet the Spammers

DaveAtFraud writes: "It took a little digging to find an on-line copy of this article that I first saw in my treeware daily newspaper. Thanks to the Salt Lake City Tribune for having it on-line. According to the Spamhaus project, a handful of people are responsible for 90% of the spam that clogs you in box. This is your chace to hear from them and what they have to say is quite interesting. If you don't think the filters and blacklists work, one spammer whines, "My operating costs have gone up 1,000 percent this year, just so I can figure out how to get around all these filters." Stopping spam is simply a matter of economics. When its uneconomical to send spam, people will stop sending it."

10 of 713 comments (clear)

  1. I feel so low by CaptainZapp · · Score: 4, Funny
    "These people will go to the lowest depths," said Cowles, of Bowling Green, Ohio.

    You reaally oughta love this quote from a friggin' spammer of all people.

    --
    ich bin der musikant

    mit taschenrechner in der hand

    kraftwerk

  2. Re:Death penalty for Spammers by Lord_Slepnir · · Score: 4, Funny
    I vote for death Penalty for Spammers

    You know we couldn't pass a law like that. Well, maybe in Texas.

  3. Re:is it Legal to Stalk Spammers? by Fat+Casper · · Score: 5, Funny
    Just wondering is it legal to stalk spammers?

    I don't see a problem with it. They're in the business of unsolicited harassment too. Tell you what: if they want to opt-out of being stalked, I've got a fake email address that they can write to, and I guarantee that I'll take them off my stalking list.

    --
    I spent a year in Iraq looking for WMD and all I found was this lousy sig.
  4. Re:And yet... by Fat+Casper · · Score: 4, Funny
    I assume he's making enough money to cover his costs and then some, else he wouldn't continue.

    Yes, but you understand that businesses have a fundamental right to high profits. If we don't buy the pills or videos these guys will band together with other content providers (RIAA/MPAA) and buy legislation forcing us to prop up their failing business models. I see a convergence with MS and Intel, where your upgrades of Windows will read your spam and send money from your credit card to the spammers if you don't buy enough penis pumps. I for one don't want to see this happen, which is why I buy at least one degree from a prestigious non- accredited university a week.

    --
    I spent a year in Iraq looking for WMD and all I found was this lousy sig.
  5. Re:And yet... by Maran · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Ever received spam from IBM?"

    Yes.

    Ok, it was the internal newsletters when I worked for them, but I didn't want them...

    Maran

  6. Ah, but to rub their noses in it.. by realgone · · Score: 5, Funny
    one spammer whines, "My operating costs have gone up 1,000 percent this year."

    Dear interested spammer:

    MEDICALLY PROVEN,
    OUR PROGRAM WILL ENLARGE YOUR BUDGET,
    NATURALLY........

    You WILL Gain up to 1000% greater operating costs!
    You WILL Get a larger budget!
    You WILL Give your accountant MORE pleasure!
    You WILL Stay IN DEBT, LONGER!

    Most spammers see results within the 1st Month !!! Don't wait! CLICK HERE NOW!!!

  7. Re:And yet... by BoBaBrain · · Score: 4, Funny

    I send you this in order to have your advice...

    --
    I am a Karma Library.
  8. Re:You poor baby..... by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 4, Funny
    My operating costs have gone up 1,000 percent this year, just so I can figure out how to get around all these filters," said Balan, a former truck driver and pinball machine mechanic.
    And now, zoom to 5 years in the future:

    ...
    "Well, things are not so bad; I can manage to unglog 25 outhouses per week nowadays, and business is actually booming, thanks to all that junk food", said Balan, a former spammer and junk e-mailer.

    The only problem, he says, "up here in the muskeg, are those damn black flies and those drunken prospectors who shoot at me even if I have an appointment to unclog his outhouse". That's because he's forced to change truck every week because he cannot afford a new one.

    But that's not his least of worries. Every so often, the bomb squad has to be flown-in because of a suspicious package destined for Balan arrives in the Post-Office. They are usually packages of dead rotten rats or opossums, but sometimes there is some catshit or worse. Everytime, the community points at him because the Post-Office has to be cordoned-off, which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't also the local watering hole. And, everytime, the municipality has to pick-up the bill, so, for a few time, Balan had to fend-off some angry sober prospectors with prized bottles from his private collection.

  9. Tone by macdaddy · · Score: 4, Funny
    Frankly I don't like the tone of the article. It makes ME as an anti-spammer sound like the bad guy. It makes ME sound like I'm inhibiting free enterprise! There's nothing free about spam. Spam costs ME money. Bandwidth IS NOT CHEAP. Drive space for multi-thousand users IS NOT CHEAP. Processor time to receive, block, or deliver spam IS NOT CHEAP. It costs me money for spammers to send my users their shit.

    All this article does for me is piss me off even more and make me want to block even more spam. I'll probably go out and dig up another couple hundred spamming domains for my blacklist.

    Die spammers, die!

  10. Re:This is *why* we need laws! by susano_otter · · Score: 4, Funny
    The spam enablers that provide the software. . . should be the most vilified and attacked.

    Kinda like the kids who wrote DeCSS?

    --

    Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.