Donald Trump and "penis patch" were the most popular subject lines used by spammers this year, as the fraudsters grew more sophisticated in trying to trick consumers, America Online said Wednesday in its third annual Top 10 Spam List.
Six out of the 10 top subject lines this year fell into what experts call "special-order spam," which pretend to be from a friend, or part of a legitimate, customer-driven transaction. Subject lines carrying the name of famous N.Y. business tycoon Donald Trump led the list, with "penis patch" the second most popular phrase.
The number of top 10 spam subject lines replacing generic pitches with more personal come-ons increased dramatically from last year, when only two fell into the special-order spam category, and none in 2003, AOL, a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., said.
For example, this year's list features "your mortgage application is ready," another claims to have sent "you to the wrong site," and others simply say "thank you" or "re:," as if they are responding to the recipient.
"While the volume of spam reaching AOL email inboxes has remained at low levels compared to it's height in late 2003, the spam that's out there is more insidious, crafty, devious, and dangerous than ever," Charles Stiles, AOL's postmaster who helps direct its spam-fighting unit, said in a statement.
AOL has found that the amount of spam reaching its subscribers' email boxes declined more than 75 percent this year, compared to the 2003 peak. The company said it blocked an average of 1.5 billion spam messages each day. The total number of emails blocked was more than 556 billion, a slight increase over last year.
AOL attributed the overall reduction to consumer software tools, spam filtering technology, public policy, litigation and enforcement, and industry partnerships.
The list of the top 10 subject lines, starting with No. 1, were: Donald Trump Wants You - Please Respond; Double Standards New Product - Penis Patch; Body Wrap: Lose 6-20 inches in one hour; Get an Apple iPod Nano, PS3 or Xbox 360 for Free; It's Lisa, I must have sent you to the wrong site; Breaking Stock News** Small Cap Issue Poised to Triple; Thank you for your business. Shipment notification; Your Mortgage Application is Ready; Thank you: Your $199 Rolex Special Included; and Online Prescriptions Made Easy.
Wait, are you trying to say Google uses spyware? Because, If I remember correctly, Google displays relevent ads that match your search text. Even worse... in GMail, we get targeted ads based on the content of the mail. So, if you think Google uses spyware, then Opera, once had spyware in it too. Seriously, why is it allright when Google does it?
Only if you dont use Opera. If you use Opera, you dont need a separate application to manage emails and aggregating RSS feeds. One more reason why Opera is better.
"I can't come up with anything else in the entire marketing world where marketers knowingly introduce a flawed or inadequate product [and] it helps grow your user base."
This is like saying,... "Why should there be free software?. I can't come up with anything else in the entire marketing world where you can get something for free".
This is already being done. Its called "Contracting". Also, they dont have to outsource it to Rural America. Most of the times the contractors work on site but are paid much less than regulars.
Personally, I get my songs from Yahoo Music where the songs are 79 cents (since I'm a Yahoo Music Unlimited member). And the downloaded songs are 192kbit/s (the best you can buy online) as protected WMAs. Then, I use Tunebite to convert these songs to unprotected mp3/wma/ogg files. Now, these files can be used easily since they are unprotected. You can even convert the DRMed songs you get from Apple Store to unprotected wma/mp3 using this cool tool. I bought this application for 19 USD. And, it works like a charm. It is also available to download (only old version - No digital dubbing) via torrents. Also, you dont need to buy an IPod.
Most car manufacturers provide a key to make that a little more difficult for any people other than the owner. This is by far the stupidest thing I read on Slashdot all day long. It even surpassed the stupidity levels of your post and reply. Thanks for playing. Move Along.
For those who dont want to RTFA
10. Orangutan-Pee Collector
9. NASA Ballerina
8. Do-Gooder
7. Semen Washer
6. Volcanologist
5. Nuclear-Weapons Scientist
4. Extremophile Excavator
3. Kansas Biology Teacher
2. Manure Inspector
1. Human Lab Rat
AP is reporting that "A Swedish court on Tuesday handed down the country's first Internet piracy conviction, fining a man 16,000 kronor ($2,000) for using a file-sharing network to distribute a movie online". Link here.
How did you come to conclusion that Ward Cunningham is one of their "best and brightest"?? Just because he was involved in some Open Source project, doesnt make him "best and brightest" by default. It could easily be the contrary. Hope this helps.
How do we know that all of this is not made up? It could as well be "FAKE" just like the "chinese sending men to space" thingie which was discussed just a few threads back on/.
Ha.. It is funny. The author *had* to bring "IE" into the discussion. Maybe it is his way to make sure that his submission is approved. Since we all know how the firefox fanboys here tend to believe that firefox is so safe, l33t and k3wl than IE.
for referring users to commercial sites such as Amazon.com
I wonder how they are going to do this. Are they going to convert requests such as "http://amazon.com" to "http://amazon.com?referalid=123323". This is just not right. It is not like the browser is refering amazon to the user.
Oh my God. The Music Industry is even more evil than I had thought. Atleast now, they are fighting with a giant who can fight back. I have never been a fan of Apple. But this has given me a new respect for Apple and Steve.
Slashdot Mirror
Donald Trump and "penis patch" were the most popular subject lines used by spammers this year, as the fraudsters grew more sophisticated in trying to trick consumers, America Online said Wednesday in its third annual Top 10 Spam List.
Six out of the 10 top subject lines this year fell into what experts call "special-order spam," which pretend to be from a friend, or part of a legitimate, customer-driven transaction. Subject lines carrying the name of famous N.Y. business tycoon Donald Trump led the list, with "penis patch" the second most popular phrase.
The number of top 10 spam subject lines replacing generic pitches with more personal come-ons increased dramatically from last year, when only two fell into the special-order spam category, and none in 2003, AOL, a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., said.
For example, this year's list features "your mortgage application is ready," another claims to have sent "you to the wrong site," and others simply say "thank you" or "re:," as if they are responding to the recipient.
"While the volume of spam reaching AOL email inboxes has remained at low levels compared to it's height in late 2003, the spam that's out there is more insidious, crafty, devious, and dangerous than ever," Charles Stiles, AOL's postmaster who helps direct its spam-fighting unit, said in a statement.
AOL has found that the amount of spam reaching its subscribers' email boxes declined more than 75 percent this year, compared to the 2003 peak. The company said it blocked an average of 1.5 billion spam messages each day. The total number of emails blocked was more than 556 billion, a slight increase over last year.
AOL attributed the overall reduction to consumer software tools, spam filtering technology, public policy, litigation and enforcement, and industry partnerships.
The list of the top 10 subject lines, starting with No. 1, were: Donald Trump Wants You - Please Respond; Double Standards New Product - Penis Patch; Body Wrap: Lose 6-20 inches in one hour; Get an Apple iPod Nano, PS3 or Xbox 360 for Free; It's Lisa, I must have sent you to the wrong site; Breaking Stock News** Small Cap Issue Poised to Triple; Thank you for your business. Shipment notification; Your Mortgage Application is Ready; Thank you: Your $199 Rolex Special Included; and Online Prescriptions Made Easy.
Wait, are you trying to say Google uses spyware? Because, If I remember correctly, Google displays relevent ads that match your search text. Even worse... in GMail, we get targeted ads based on the content of the mail. So, if you think Google uses spyware, then Opera, once had spyware in it too. Seriously, why is it allright when Google does it?
Yes, Opera has never bundled anything that could be considered spyware.
I really do.
Only if you dont use Opera. If you use Opera, you dont need a separate application to manage emails and aggregating RSS feeds. One more reason why Opera is better.
If I'm right, Safari is not the only browser that passes Acid 2 Test.
"I can't come up with anything else in the entire marketing world where marketers knowingly introduce a flawed or inadequate product [and] it helps grow your user base."
This is like saying,... "Why should there be free software?. I can't come up with anything else in the entire marketing world where you can get something for free".
This is already being done. Its called "Contracting". Also, they dont have to outsource it to Rural America. Most of the times the contractors work on site but are paid much less than regulars.
Personally, I get my songs from Yahoo Music where the songs are 79 cents (since I'm a Yahoo Music Unlimited member). And the downloaded songs are 192kbit/s (the best you can buy online) as protected WMAs. Then, I use Tunebite to convert these songs to unprotected mp3/wma/ogg files. Now, these files can be used easily since they are unprotected. You can even convert the DRMed songs you get from Apple Store to unprotected wma/mp3 using this cool tool. I bought this application for 19 USD. And, it works like a charm. It is also available to download (only old version - No digital dubbing) via torrents. Also, you dont need to buy an IPod.
Most car manufacturers provide a key to make that a little more difficult for any people other than the owner.
This is by far the stupidest thing I read on Slashdot all day long. It even surpassed the stupidity levels of your post and reply. Thanks for playing. Move Along.
Also, TFA states that the Ping Of Death also affected certain Unix Machines and Macs.
Well, that is because you have your password written on a sticky note which is stuck to the monitor.
For those who dont want to RTFA
10. Orangutan-Pee Collector
9. NASA Ballerina
8. Do-Gooder
7. Semen Washer
6. Volcanologist
5. Nuclear-Weapons Scientist
4. Extremophile Excavator
3. Kansas Biology Teacher
2. Manure Inspector
1. Human Lab Rat
AP is reporting that "A Swedish court on Tuesday handed down the country's first Internet piracy conviction, fining a man 16,000 kronor ($2,000) for using a file-sharing network to distribute a movie online". Link here.
Oh my god. It is Comedy Gold.
How did you come to conclusion that Ward Cunningham is one of their "best and brightest"?? Just because he was involved in some Open Source project, doesnt make him "best and brightest" by default. It could easily be the contrary. Hope this helps.
How do we know that all of this is not made up? It could as well be "FAKE" just like the "chinese sending men to space" thingie which was discussed just a few threads back on /.
Ha.. It is funny. The author *had* to bring "IE" into the discussion. Maybe it is his way to make sure that his submission is approved. Since we all know how the firefox fanboys here tend to believe that firefox is so safe, l33t and k3wl than IE.
I wonder how they are going to do this. Are they going to convert requests such as "http://amazon.com" to "http://amazon.com?referalid=123323". This is just not right. It is not like the browser is refering amazon to the user.
Obligatory reply just to increase reply count so that the Chemistry Geeks trolling /. dont feel bad about the reply count.
I dont think people who install Open Source Operating Systems on their PC are that dumb to get a PC from DELL.
Wait.. somebody still uses Netscape??!!!11
Oh my God. The Music Industry is even more evil than I had thought. Atleast now, they are fighting with a giant who can fight back. I have never been a fan of Apple. But this has given me a new respect for Apple and Steve.
In other news, scientists have discovered that Illegal P2P sharing is the leading cause for AIDS.
Honestly, I dont think this is a good idea. There is a saying... "Jack of all trades is master of none".