CDT Releases New Report on Origins of Spam

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CDT Releases New Report on Origins of Spam

Posted by michael on Wednesday March 19, 2003 @06:33AM from the plumbing-the-depths dept.

Carnth writes "CDT has released a new report based on a six month project entitled "Why Am I Getting All This Spam?" The results offer Internet users insights about what online behavior results in the most unsolicited commercial email and also debunk some of the myths about spam." A very good report - read it. There's also a story about yet another sleazy spammer in Ohio.

18 of 346 comments (clear)

Spam? I thought I was posting! by chuckfirment · 2003-03-19 06:38 · Score: 3, Funny

Spam comes in the form of unrequested text, right? So saying "FIRST POST" every time there's a new topic is simply a way of spamming Slashdot?

Chuck
Other amazing discoveries... by psoriac · 2003-03-19 06:38 · Score: 4, Funny

In other news, it was announced today that after careful study, researchers confirmed that fire is hot and pointy objects hurt.

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I browse Slashdot at +3, Funny
1. Re:Other amazing discoveries... by EvilBudMan · 2003-03-19 07:15 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  In related news, after more objective study, it has been postulated, pointy objects that are hot and thrusted hurt more than unthrusted cold pointy objects.
  
  I don't eat pork!
Why am I getting all this spam? by Weaselmancer · 2003-03-19 06:41 · Score: 2, Funny

Because your penis is small, you'd like to work from home and everybody loves baklava?

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Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Spam makes money? by ShwAsasin · 2003-03-19 06:42 · Score: 4, Funny

I was considering moving into the spam market, but decided that was too controversial. I opted to start pornography business instead.
1. Re:Spam makes money? by doublem · 2003-03-19 06:52 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Depends on how you advertise.
  
  If you're up front and don't SPAM people, selling only porn that features consenting adults, then I'd say go for it.
  
  I was thinking of starting a porn site myself, until my GF nixed it.
  
  Good luck though. One of my buddies tried it, and failed due to the stiff competition. You have to have a new and unique angle, something really different, to make it now.
  
  --
  "Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
2. Re:Spam makes money? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-03-19 07:15 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  ....One of my buddies tried it, and failed due to the "stiff competition"
  
  isn't that the point of p0rn sites ? LOL
3. Re:Spam makes money? by YrWrstNtmr · 2003-03-19 07:56 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  One of my buddies tried it, and failed due to the stiff competition.
  
  Sounds like his attempt was a little limp.
Re:Burn in Hell, Son of Spam! by ToadSprocket · 2003-03-19 06:47 · Score: 4, Funny

And as for angry e-mails and junk mail, he said, "I can give as good as I get."
I smell a challenge.

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If this article confuses you, don't worry. It was posted yesterday in a much clearer fashion.
Re:Spamburgers for Hotmail by Rebel+Patriot · 2003-03-19 06:51 · Score: 2, Funny

I'm still wondering why when I have my hotmail filter set to "exclusive" (only recieve from those in my address book, which contains 10 addresses), I continue to get loads of spam each day in my inbox, including some very embarassing things that would cause my mom to faint if she walked in. Dude, you wouldn't have that problem if you didn't put those spammers in your address book!

--
Slackware forever. Honestly, what else would you trust when it absolutely positively has to be stable, secure, and easy
Yeah, right . . . by Our+Man+In+Redmond · 2003-03-19 06:54 · Score: 3, Funny

Childs blamed the mix-up on a programming accident and said he has since apologized to Smithson [for using her site as an open relay].

Reminds me of the old saying, "I might have believed it was an accident if you hadn't stopped twice to reload and once to chug a couple of beers."

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Someone you trust is one of us.
The gauntlet has been thrown! by douglips · 2003-03-19 06:56 · Score: 4, Funny

None of this puts a chill into Childs, who said he has nothing to fear from anti-spammers. "I don't ask for understanding from anybody. I follow the law." And as for angry e-mails and junk mail, he said, "I can give as good as I get."

Geez, I sure hope he's right. It sure would be a shame if his physical mailbox overflowed with a gazillion free catalogs.

Did anyone explain to him what happened to Alan Ralsky?

--
My amazing wife - Artist, Author, Philosopher - Laurie M
1. Re:The gauntlet has been thrown! by apoupc · 2003-03-19 15:14 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  he sholdn't have a problem if he received a gazillion free catalogs.....all he has to do is throw them away!
Re:happy 1.3 user by ToadSprocket · 2003-03-19 07:12 · Score: 5, Funny

Amen to that.
I had been using the 1.3 beta for weeks before the release version. "Yes, this is junk, I am going to mark it as such and then sit here and laugh at you." I felt so... impotent I guess. All of these naked women, and nothing I could do about it. But yeah, since 1.3 came out, I am laying more pipe than Charlie Sheen in his heyday, and not with hookers either.
1.3 kicks ass.

--

If this article confuses you, don't worry. It was posted yesterday in a much clearer fashion.
Re:the two things I've seen increase spam for me.. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-03-19 07:51 · Score: 1, Funny

> I first installed it in January and in that time have only had it
> once grab mail that it shouldn't have - from my mom. I added her to
> the whitelist and have never had a problem since.

Why would your mom try to sell you a penis enlarger? That's just creepy.....
Re:How is old Alan doing? by Tackhead · 2003-03-19 08:02 · Score: 3, Funny

> Is that maggot-eaten sack of whale drek still getting a gazillion pieces of snailmail every day?
Ahem.
I represent the Cetacean Fecal Matter Anti-Defamation League. Please retract at once your defamatory comments against whale dreck.
I have also been informed by the Head Maggot of the Fly Larva Anti-Defamation League that although his members will gleefully chow down on any form of cetacean poop ranging from Dolphin Doo to Blue Whale Bombs, they'd definitely draw the line at Ralsky's carcass. They've got standards, y'know.
Not stressful at all... by gillbates · 2003-03-19 09:17 · Score: 2, Funny

I'm asking you, how stressful is it to push the delete button? We have become a nation of crybabies.
Oh, say, no more stressful than pulling the trigger on a high powered rifle...

Some people just don't get it. Spam is an invasion of a personal space - it's the intrusion into our personal lives by a stranger that we resent, not the fact that we have to hit the delete key.

Quite frankly, I'm surprised that these guys are still alive. Spam is something that really angers people, and I can imagine someone unfamiliar with the 'net getting scammed and taking a high powered rifle to some spammer's house. Not everyone believes in the sanctity of life, you know, and if you blanket email the U.S., you're bound to put spam in the inboxes of criminals... But hey, the risk is up to you.

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The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
Re:My experince is very different by Anonymous Coward · 2003-03-19 11:17 · Score: 1, Funny

I have had the same Yahoo address on my web site since 1998. The address is a simple mailto link - I'm doing nothing to hide the address. That account gets 4 or 5 spams a day.

Have you considered that your website is just not very popular with spammers? :o)