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CDT Releases New Report on Origins of Spam

Posted by michael on 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.

5 of 346 comments (clear)

  1. Spamburgers for Hotmail by Kelz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

  2. My spam research by sigxcpu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I just got a new domain.
    Which means that every email to that domain goes to me.
    Every time I give my Email online I give a diff name, for instance if I buy at yahoo I give "yahoo-shopping@mydomain.com".
    If I get spam to this address I know who gave it to the spammers.
    - only been doing this for a week, no spam so far but there is still hope ;-)

    Note: I am not actively looking to be spamed, just doing my usual stuff.

    --
    As of Postgres v6.2, time travel is no longer supported.
    1. Re:My spam research by Fluid+Truth · · Score: 5, Interesting

      That's a really common thing among my friends. Most of us use qmail, so we can receive mail to username-[anything]. Sign up for financial tracking with yahoo? Then it's username-yahoo@domain.tld Ask for info from buy.com? Use the address username-buy@domain.tld I bought stuff from x10 before they started being so darned annoying. Now, I throw away anything that comes to username-x10@domain.tld

      It helps you track spam AND get rid of annoying companies' e-mails. :-) And best of all, you don't have to get your own domain for this. You can use your existing e-mail address with just a slight tweak to your qmail configuration.

      --
      Apparently, of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.
    2. Re:My spam research by dissy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I do the same thing with my domains, however I take it once step further.

      Once I get spam sent to one of the addresses, I change the forward so it no longer goes to me, but forwards to a number of addresses at their domain.
      For example, if i signed up at yahoo.com and they spammed me, I would change my yahoo@mydomain.com forward to send to:
      abuse@yahoo.com,staff@yahoo.com,support@yahoo .com, help@yahoo.com,postmaster@yahoo.com,webmaster@yaho o.com
      etc

      As they are all at the same domain, my mail server only sends one copy to the yahoo.com mailserver. Their server breaks it up then so I only really send one email out.

      Using procmail to do this, i usually turn on logging until it hits a certain size.
      If no real/ligit emails come to me before the log of spam reaches a couple megs, i turn off logging and leave it.

      This generates surprisingly little traffic on my mail server, and one would hope they get the point

      This way yahoo (only using as example of course) may remove me from their mailing lists, but they have to deal with the spam from all of their 'business partners' they signed me up for, and at that point i dont care if the address is removed or not :)

  3. Re:FTC links on Charles Childs by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Interesting
    > The FTC already filed a complaint [ftc.gov] and had a preliminary injunction [ftc.gov] against Childs back in April. See the press release [ftc.gov] for more information. The article mentions he lives by Riverside drive in an apartment, could be with Linda Lightfoot [superpages.com], the woman mentioned in the complaints with him?

    Rules of spam:

    0) Spam is theft.
    1) Spammers lie.
    2) If you think a spammer's telling the truth, see Rule #1.
    3) Spammers are stupid.
    Corollary: Spammer lies are really stupid.

    So when I read this:

    "To Internet users who complain that their e-mail inboxes are crammed with ads for products and services they would never purchase, Childs' response is, "Quit your whining. I'm asking you, how stressful is it to push the delete button? We have become a nation of crybabies."

    I immediately thought "This asshat wants me to Just Hit Delete. Every time I've heard that excuse, the guy saying it has been either lying (Rule #1), or stupid (Rule #3). This guy sounds like both. (Corollary). So I'll lay odds that this guy's a spammer."

    I was just about to Google for the proof, when you did all the leg-work by posting the FTC links. Thanks. J00 r0x0r!