Spammers on the Run

ericald writes "An interesting update from Blue Security, the group that introduces the Blue Frog initiative to fight spam, claims that during the past few days at least one spammer had frequently deleted domains he owned as a result of their system. In another update in their blog they report they have already recruited over 21,000 users. It's about time spammers start feeling the heat! I'm just surprised they show results so soon."

Comments

domain names

[dotpavan]

look at the domain names, makes a good read..

asdlkjfea.com, alsfajega.com, aksdfaewl.com, hkassautdn.com, egmymaridjk.com, lhperdixnd.com, clthriftbf.com, bibiae.com, romisingfeasibility.com, betheuplift.com, fundamentalstojoy.com, dealandvaluematch.com, valueandassets.com, oursuperbiz.com, and best of them: truthfoundhere.com

maybe spamfoundhere.com?

Re:what do they do?

[L. VeGas]

What does this blue frog inituative do thats so magical to get rid of spammers.

You really don't know? Geneticists have engineered a breed of frogs that subsist entirely on Spam. An interesting side effect is their attractive blue coloration.

Re:Spammers fate

[crimson30]

Not every spammer is as successful as Scott Richter (who agreed to pay $7 million).

Remember, he's not a spammer... he's a high-volume e-mail deployer.

Foot, meet bullet

[Tackhead]

> An interesting update from Blue Security, the group that introduces the Blue Frog initiative to fight spam, claims that during the past few days at least one spammer had frequently deleted domains he owned as a result of their system. In another update in their blog they report they have already recruited over 21,000 users. It's about time spammers start feeling the heat! I'm just surprised they show results so soon."

An interesting update from Spammers-R-Us, Inc [...] In another update in their blog, they report they have already gotten over 21,000 Slashdotters to hit the Blue Frog site. It's about time spamfighters started feeling the heat! I'm just surprised they show the results within 20 posts on the thread!

- with apologies to the original article poster :)

A better idea

[Quiet_Desperation]

I propose the Blue Steel program where spammers are hunted down like animals. Sponsored by Colt. Successful hunters will be allowed to mount the heads on their walls.

Re:A better idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Your post advocates a

( ) technical ( ) legislative ( ) market-based (x) vigilante

approach to fighting spam. Your idea will not work. Here is why it won't work. (One or more of the following may apply to your particular idea, and it may have other flaws which used to vary from state to state before a bad federal law was passed.)

( ) Spammers can easily use it to harvest email addresses
( ) Mailing lists and other legitimate email uses would be affected
( ) No one will be able to find the guy or collect the money
( ) It is defenseless against brute force attacks
( ) It will stop spam for two weeks and then we'll be stuck with it
( ) Users of email will not put up with it
( ) Microsoft will not put up with it
(x) The police will not put up with it
( ) Requires too much cooperation from spammers
(x) Requires immediate total cooperation from everybody at once
( ) Many email users cannot afford to lose business or alienate potential employers
( ) Spammers don't care about invalid addresses in their lists
( ) Anyone could anonymously destroy anyone else's career or business

Specifically, your plan fails to account for

(x) Laws expressly prohibiting it
( ) Lack of centrally controlling authority for email
( ) Open relays in foreign countries
( ) Ease of searching tiny alphanumeric address space of all email addresses
(x) Asshats
(x) Jurisdictional problems
( ) Unpopularity of weird new taxes
( ) Public reluctance to accept weird new forms of money
( ) Huge existing software investment in SMTP
( ) Susceptibility of protocols other than SMTP to attack
( ) Willingness of users to install OS patches received by email
( ) Armies of worm riddled broadband-connected Windows boxes
(x) Eternal arms race involved in all filtering approaches
( ) Extreme profitability of spam
( ) Joe jobs and/or identity theft
( ) Technically illiterate politicians
( ) Extreme stupidity on the part of people who do business with spammers
( ) Dishonesty on the part of spammers themselves
( ) Bandwidth costs that are unaffected by client filtering
( ) Outlook

and the following philosophical objections may also apply:

( ) Ideas similar to yours are easy to come up with, yet none have ever been shown practical
( ) Any scheme based on opt-out is unacceptable
( ) SMTP headers should not be the subject of legislation
( ) Blacklists suck
( ) Whitelists suck
( ) We should be able to talk about Viagra without being censored
( ) Countermeasures should not involve wire fraud or credit card fraud
( ) Countermeasures should not involve sabotage of public networks
( ) Countermeasures must work if phased in gradually
( ) Sending email should be free
( ) Why should we have to trust you and your servers?
( ) Incompatiblity with open source or open source licenses
( ) Feel-good measures do nothing to solve the problem
( ) Temporary/one-time email addresses are cumbersome
( ) I don't want the government reading my email
(x) Killing them that way is not slow and painful enough

Furthermore, this is what I think about you:

( ) Sorry dude, but I don't think it would work.
(x) This is a stupid idea, and you're a stupid person for suggesting it.
( ) Nice try, assh0le! I'm going to find out where you live and burn your house down!

Re:A better idea

[deathy_epl ccs]

They seem to be having smashing success with the pilot Blue Steel program in Russia. I suggest we hire some consultants from Moscow and fly them over to help us implement our instance.

Remember

[www.sorehands.com]

Harry Mud: Norman, I alway lie. I am lying to you now.

Norman: If you alway lie, and you are lying to me now, you must be telling the truth. But if you tell telling the truth, you must be lying to me.....

Re:Anti-Blue Frog

[Quiet_Desperation]

Personally I think the "WORST kind" of vigilante approach would be getting the spammers home addresses and savagely beating them... or killing them.

You misspelled "best".

You Only Think You're Winning

[Anonymous Coward]

As a spammer, I can honestly say that this is just a small victory. For every attempt you make to squelch us, we will always find another way to reach our audience. If the truth be told, there are far more people who are responsive to spam than there are people who dislike it. The sales figures for the businesses we serve prove this. But no matter, you can be happy in your small victory for today. The truth of the matter is that what these supposed security experts are doing is disrupting important commerce. This is a crime in any civilized nation and it will not go unpunished. Additionally, we have operatives around the world who will go to any length to preserve their employer. It is only a matter of time before the criminals behind these disruptions in our services are brought to justice. Always remember this. We live in a god eat dog world. We will always be the bigger dog. Never forget that you puny little fuckers.

Re:Spammers fate

[tbarstow]

What's really interesting about spam is that it must actually be somewhat successful, otherwise the spammers would have died out long ago.

Who wants to buy Windows XP or enlarge their penis so badly that they are clicking links in unsolicited emails? Whoever you are, please stop, for the good of all!

Re:Blue Security

[rcamera]

so upgrade your win98 box to 2000... what's the problem?

You will go to jail and ..

[Anonymous Coward]

You will eventually go to jail. Then we will send your cellmate, Bubba, penis enlargment pills, cialis softabs, penis enlargment patches, and SPUR-M, just for his enjoyment.

This gives me an idea...

[Locke2005]

Just as a proof of concept, would somebody please start sending out millions of "fake" spam messages, all with links to every one of SCO's web pages? Thanks!

Re:Spammers fate

[Yocto Yotta]

LOL, yes as we all know that Windows XP is only part of the cure for a midlife crisis and/or idiocy. "I love Windows, but it makes my penis look small. Ooh look, an e-mail just for me? How'd they know what I needed? This interweb is amazing!"

Re:That's funny. I'm still getting spam.

[ameline]

Of course I'm sure you don't find it at all ironic that you include spam in your very own signatture line, do you?

feh.

Re:Kill profits by consuming resources

[sploxx]

I think so, too.
And, as far as I can see, the most important resource consumed is the spammer's time to sort the replies to his/her which MAY BE LEGITIMATE.

Doesn't sound that familiar?

Maybe spammers will use some modified version of spamassassin to filter for replies to their spam :-)

Re:Anti-Blue Frog

[wohlford]

Puts a new meaning to the term "Feeling Blue."

Re:Spammers fate

[mattspammail]

Let's work the term "engineer" or "specialist" in there somehow.

How do these sound?

• Port 25 marketing specialist (PMS - my favorite already)
• Annoyer via e-mail (AVE)
• Canned meat over e-mail specialist
• your ideas?

Re:Anti-Blue Frog

[jcr]

or "Most Effective"..

-jcr

Re:Good old detective work for a chance?

[ocbwilg]

It's amazing, isn't it? You're connected to the Internet, the world's single largest source of information on nearly every conceivable topic, and you couldn't be bothered to take 2 minutes to actually look up the topic being discussed before commenting on it.

Spammers fate:A new name for the trade (continued)

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's work the term "engineer" or "specialist" in there somehow. How do these sound?

• Fan-excrement combination ejector specialist (FECES)

Thank god for Crazy Frog

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm glad that Crazy Frog Initiative was good for more than just a ringtone. Goodbye spammers! I hear the Crunchy Frog Initiative will be even more ambitious.

Oh wait...