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Real-time Spam Map

iggychaos writes "Mailinator, the free, temporary email service gets a lot of spam (over a million emails a day). And with another cool application of Google maps, the site now shows a Spam Map indicating what sites are spamming mailinator in (nearly) real time. It's oddly addictive to poke around and see where the spam is actually coming from."

14 of 230 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Hey! It's Steve Jobs!! by yotto · · Score: 2, Informative

    From TFA: Spam counts are rounded to the nearest hundred

    There's more, but I'll let you read it yourself.

  2. Re:not slashdot by filenabber · · Score: 2, Informative

    Use one of mailinator's alternate domains!

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  3. Re:Purpose by xtracto · · Score: 2, Informative

    Dunno but I have found it very useful, you may want to try www.dodgeit.com

    It even has an RSS feed of the mailbox. This kind of recyclable mailboxes are useful for signing up on Torrent, Ed2k and other distribution sites.

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    Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
  4. Re:Not all that accurate by filenabber · · Score: 5, Informative

    We threw in a couple joke locations just for fun. The algorithm is sound.

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  5. Re:Apple? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 3, Informative
    There is no algorithm. People sign up and get a one-shot email address. The first email sent to this address is forwarded to another address, and all subsequent ones are considered spam.

    I suspect the reason for the large number of Apple emails is idiots who download iTunes and supply a one-shot email address instead of simply unchecking the `send me iTunes newsletters' box on the download page.

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    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  6. Invalid Survey by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is really an invalid survey because of tunnels and portals that most spammers use. This link gives a far better representation of the overall spam locations in the world. They actually trace backed the mail to its origin to map where it was coming from.
    On a side note there are far better services out there similar to mailinator like shortmail.net and pookmail.com that should be checked out.

  7. Re:Wow... no FL? by filenabber · · Score: 2, Informative

    I have been playing with it for about a week and Florida shows up now and then. By far most spam for Mailinator comes form the NE USA.

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  8. Re:Not the source of spam by Clovert+Agent · · Score: 2, Informative

    Correct. From TF..er...Map: "This map shows (in semi-realtime) ip addresses that are currently sending the most spam to Mailinator."

  9. Re:interesting, Hmmm. by filenabber · · Score: 2, Informative
    We only show the TOP spammers in the system at the time the map data is output. Our algorithms to determine what is spam are more about self-preservation than catching pottywords.

    Brian (a mailinator developer)

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  10. Re:Incomplete by filenabber · · Score: 2, Informative

    We only show the top spammers and we classify spam a bit differently than most - we are all about self-preservation. If one guy sends a Viagra email, that isn't spam for us. If he sends 1000, it's spam. It's not about the subject, it's the volume. p. Brian - a mailinator developer

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  11. Re:No Australian spammers! by parkrrrr · · Score: 2, Informative

    Last time I looked, Google wasn't using a Mercator projection. The Mercator projection adjusts the distance between latitude lines as you move further from the equator so as to keep Rhumb lines straight, but Google's projection is just a plain ol' cylindrical projection with a standard parallel of 39.5 degrees. The result is that while Greenland still appears too large, it doesn't appear as large as it would on a Mercator projection (because it's only exaggerated horizontally, not vertically.)

  12. Re:OT: Google Maps and Mozilla by ccozan · · Score: 2, Informative

    you need to check the javascript permissions. Usually enable the "Change Images", and it will work.

  13. Re:So how long unitl the Spammers... by Drinian · · Score: 3, Informative

    So how long unitl the Spammers simply block the mailinator.com domain? Or websites refuse to take email addresses from that domain?

    From the FAQ:

    What are alternate domains?

    Every now and then you bump into a website that does not permit email addresses at mailinator.com (scoundrels!). Don't fret. There is more than one domain pointing to the mailinator system. If you send email to one of the listed alternate domains - it will come to mailinator.com just as if you sent it directly. For example, stinky@mailinator.com is EXACTLY the same as stinky@fakeinformation.com (which are exactly the same as any other domain in the list).

  14. EasterEgg by flatass · · Score: 2, Informative

    Check out Antarctica for an easter egg.