Unplugging Email To Combat Spam

monkeyserver.com writes "from Reuters (via CNN) we hear that 'Consumers who allow their infected computers to send out millions of 'spam' messages could be unplugged from the Internet under a proposal released Tuesday by six large e-mail providers.' They are looking at 100 per hour or 500 per day; this doesn't really sound like a bad idea, though it could cause problems for a few people trying to run companies from their basement..." On the other side of the coin, rastakid writes "It appears that Microsoft is taking its actions against spamming a little bit too far: Hotmail accounts which are suspected of sending spam are closed without a single investigation. This article states that Maariv International registered a new Hotmail account and sent an abuse message about spamming activities from that account, while not a single message was sent from it. Microsoft closed the account immediately, without investigating."

Comments

Karma-Whoring-Free Article Posting

[Anonymous Coward]

Before this gets slashdotted:

Exclusive: Hotmail shuts down "spammers" who don't spam

Complain you got spam from a Hotmail user, and Hotmail's abuse team will shut down their account, no questions asked.

Hotmail.com shuts down Hotmail accounts shortly after receiving complaints about spam being sent from them, without checking if the user has actually sent spam, NRG Maariv has learned. Thus, malicious users can cause the shutting down of accounts, as an act of revenge or just for kicks.

In its haste to fight spam, Hotmail has foregone looking into abuse reports it gets from email users. In three instances documented by NRG Maariv, Hotmail's abuse team shut down Hotmail accounts less than 24 hours after receiving complaints about spam being sent from them, even though the spam mail clearly did not originate from those accounts.

In two of the instances, the spammers spoofed the sender's address so it looked like it was sent from a Hotmail account, while they were actually sent through an Israeli ISP. In both instances, the spoofed accounts were shut down.

The third instance was a test: NRG Maariv opened a new account with Hotmail and sent no email whatsoever from it. Using a different email, we filed a spam complaint, saying it came from the new Hotmail account. Attached were Internet headers from an old spam, where the sender's address was replaced with that of the new account.

Within less than 24 hours, we received a message saying the new account was shut down.

"My name is Claire, and from what I have read in your message, you are complaining about the unsolicited email you received from a Hotmail account", said the message written by Claire C. with MSN Hotmail Technical Support. "I have closed the account you reported in accordance with the Hotmail Terms of Use (TOU). It is a strict violation of the TOU for our members to send objectionable material of any kind or nature using our service".

Trying to log on to the Hotmail account, we found it closed. No explanation was provided, just a laconic message saying "Account Closed. Access Denied". No appeal procedure was mentioned. The account was shut down for good.

Hotmail's public relations representative, Waggener Edstrom, has yet to respond to the story.

I am Impressed

[Mashiki]

Really. Those types of machines really are the bane, since Comcast actually started 'doing' something I've seen *nothing* from them. My inbox was empty for the better part of 2-3 weeks, no spam just e-mail. Then yesterday, I start getting a barage of spam from asian open relays. 35 e-mails to 70 spams a day and now it's climbing through the roof, really now. Pop online and I see 207 spams. Gah.

I mean come off it. And you *wonder* why entire asian hosts are blocked. It's because of crap like that, secure your machines or boot the bloody idijits off of them.

I don't care if you are too stupid to figure out *how* to do it, pay someone, call that smart 12 year old who knows how but do it. But bloody well do it.

Re:Open relays

[CyanDisaster]

...So the system can be up-to-date with all known patches, and still be attacked. Fining people for things that flat-out aren't their fault is likely to be, at best, contrary to the ISPs customers idea about what makes a good ISP...

I work at an ISP where we do virus removals on customers computers. If someone comes in with a virus, we determine whether it slipped through the email virus scanning. If so, we don't charge them. Otherwise it's usually about half an hour labour to clean the system up. Sooo...basically, if it isn't their fault, there's no charge. Mind you, that's if our system doesn't keep the customer's email clean. Whether their Norton or AVG is up to date or not, and the virus didn't come through email, or they're not on email virus scanning, then we charge them for labour regardless where the virus came from.

Hope be with ye,
Cyan

You are not allowed to send email anymore...

[evilviper]

They are looking at 100 per hour or 500 per day; this doesn't really sound like a bad idea, though it could cause problems for a few people trying to run companies from their basement...

Umm, no. The days when you could send emails from your own SMTP server are long gone now.

First, the cheapest ISPs blocked port 25 entirely, except to their own SMTP server. The idea caught on, and most are blocking port 25.

Now, even with the very good ISPs, you can send mail over port 25, but even major ISPs are using different spam lists like the SORBs DUL, that blocks ALL EMAIL from dynamic IP addresses, bar none.

In the near future, having a static IP and one of the better ISPs won't help still. You'll also need to be running your own DNS server, and provide SPF records.

Frankly, limiting people to 500 emails per day is rather benign compared to all the other measures that have already been taken up to this point. All signs point to the future being even worse for anyone who doesn't want their e-mail service provided by one of the big ISPs.