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Four Big ISPs File Six Anti-Spam Suits

Posted by timothy on from the woodshed-time dept.

ackthpt writes "Wired is carrying news that Microsoft, America Online, Earthlink and Yahoo are filing suits against spammers under the CANSPAM act. They will 'follow the money' to find the perpetrators and shut them down. Suits currently filed against John Does will have actual names attached once subpoenas get the names of the actual persons. I wish them all the luck, as I clean about 500 pieces of drek a day from my mailboxes." Other readers point to coverage from the BBC and from the Associated Press (here's the AP story as carried by the Boston Globe).

10 of 382 comments (clear)

  1. I wonder how effective this will be... by Zone-MR · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wonder what effect this will have on the number of spam messages we get daily?

    Six spammers is probably a drop in the desert, and shutting them down won't cause a noticable impact, but at least it's a start.

    1. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by Like2Byte · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It'll probably be very effective considering that a few spammers are responsible for most of the SPAM anyway.

    2. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by blurfus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But then again, if it is like local auto-theft (in this city anyway) where 5 thieves are responsible for over 80% of the auto-related crime, it could make a difference

      These six spammers *may* be responsible for (say) 50% of the spams. It is at least a good 'chunk' to make an impact (if that were the case of course)

      imho

      --
      will work for Karma
    3. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by MadelineAlbright · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Moving offshore will only work to some extent. If laws can be created that allow you to go after the companies who pay the spammers to spam, and we manage to stop the the local companies from paying for spam to be sent, then the only people left are offshore sales companies. But they really don't want to pay for international shipping for a few bottles of viagra, so spam should diminish a fair bit at that point.

    4. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by Albanach · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Spamhaus reckon less than 200 spam outfits make up 90% of spam. So 6% would be a bit more than a drop in the ocean - and if they get caught and face big fines (or jail time) we could see an even bigger impact.

    5. Re:I wonder how effective this will be... by Otter · · Score: 5, Insightful
      I wonder what effect this will have on the number of spam messages we get daily?

      I realize I'm almost alone here in my sentiment, but -- the tide is turning on spam. It's simply making email unusable. Email is too useful and too important to ISPs, software makers and corporate users for them to allow a handful of morons to destroy it. Something has to be done and therefore something _will_ be done.

      I keep saying that here and am always surprised by how confident everyone else is for the spammers. I just don't get you guys -- we're all helpless in the face of big corporations but a bunch of dirtbags flogging V*!*a*g*r*a and Par1s H1lt0n V1d30s! can spit in Bill Gates' face?

      --
      What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
  2. Hope it works by Elpacoloco · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Used to be spam tried to tell me something. Now it's so clogged with filter-defeaters that they can't manage to squeeze in a message.

    Hope they recover at least their sysadmin's time.

  3. Can-Spam is not far enough though by RandBlade · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Good start, but it doesn't go far enough. Part of the law for Can-Spam they're being prosecuted under is the absence of addresses to get off a mailing list - but who is seriously going to click on a link if they are there? How do we trust them?

    This won't stop until spammers start getting locked up for years and people stop buying off them.

  4. 10 years from now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I expect my inbox to be filled with just as much spam and all the lawyers will be slightly richer.

  5. Re:Push them underground? by Tripster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Umm, they are pretty much underground now aren't they? Considering the spammers are almost exclusively using the trojaned PC network to relay their crap I would say it is as underground as you can get.

    This "follow the money" routine will work, the spammers need to get paid at some point, and considering most of their income is based on amount of sales from the spam then you just need to have a nice chat with whomever is accepting the loot and sending the products.