How to block 44 million spam domains, Pandia (May
The Duck Duck Go Toolbar for Firefox may be our salvation. It has identified 28 million .com spam or parked domains.
Key -- "According to Gabriel Weinberg, there are approximately 80 million total .com domains, 68 million of which have active Web sites. The Duck Duck Go block list has 28 million .com domains. Depending on how you look at it, 35-41% of all .com domains are useless Web sites. With the new toolbar, you will never have to visit those useless sites."
There is also a search engine - Duck Duck Go - with "44 million pages, which depending on how you count, is approximately between 30-40% of the whole Internet."
What Is Search Engine Spam? The Video Edition by Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land (Oct 21)
Danny Sullivan explains - and show through videos - what search engine spam really is - what it looks like, and how it works. These presentations from the recent SMX conference are very informative in showing how it is we get sidelined sometimes through a search into dead ends and sometimes dangerous places.
"At our recent SMX East search marketing conference, representatives from Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo tackled the topic. Below you can learn more about search spam, as well as reinclusion tips for each search engine."
There's more spam in email but we are less bothered by it according to the latest PEW Internet and American Life report -- Spam 2007
"Users have become more sophisticated about dealing with spam; fully 71% of email users use filters offered by their email provider or employer to block spam. Users also report less exposure to pornographic spam, which to many people is the most offensive type of unsolicited email. Spam has not become a
significant deterrent to the use of email, as some observers speculated it might when unsolicited email first began flooding users' inboxes several years ago. But it continues to degrade the integrity of email. Some 55% of email users say they have lost trust in email because of spam."
This study is of how people feel about spam in incoming email. But there is another problem to spam. The filters and spam assassin software can mean that your innocent, non-commercial and non-spam email is rejected because there is a problem with the mail server your ISP uses. I would say that spam is hurting email as a means of communicating.
Beware the sophisticated style of spam to come by DAWN WALTON, Globe and Mail (Apr 27)
"Unless new weapons are designed to keep junk mail at bay, spammers are about to get the upper hand in the war in cyberspace.
Canadian researchers have figured out a way to create spam that could bypass the best filters and trick even the most savvy computer users into opening messages they would normally delete."
I ran a search at Technorati to check what people were saying in their blogs about the search engine Accoona.
What I found was spam and more spam in the 525 posts. The first few entries mentioned Accoona's new toolbar and sponsorship of chess, but mainly there was an endless number of entries that had phrases like "Accoona will help you find", "Accoona is the powerful new", and the like.
Every blog I checked was a page of chopped up advertisements - like this one from Cat Health and done with Blogger.
18. Cat health urinary Live wedding-plan-videos.com Celebrex, Didrex, Acyclovir, Valtrex, Zyrtec, health, pills Cat health urinary on wedding-plan-videos.com Editor picks on cat health urinary: By: , . Best: Looking for cat ? Accoona will help you ...
Many were created through WordPress, all the same blue banner, all with repetitive entries, all spam. From the E-Commerce Business Advice Blog:
My First Online Business, Travel Plan Online.Com Self SEO, Germany - Jun 16, 2005 (Free Advertising,learning experiences) Ok, well this one is interesting because I've had mixed results from many attempts at growing my business.
Others have noticed this too. Priya Shah at eBrand360 asked Will Spam-Blogging Be The Death Of Blogs? (Mar 25)
"What are spam blogs? They are fake blogs that are created by robots in order to foster link farms, attempted search engine optimization, or drive traffic through to advertising or affiliate sites."
David Sifry at Technorati estimated that "that about 20% of the aggregate pings Technorati receives are from spam blogs. Most of this fake blog spam comes from hosted services or from specific IP addresses."
They claimed to be catching 90% of the spam blogs, but this isn't the case with the search on Accoona where spam blogs seem to make up 90% of the results.
This is a serious problem for Technorati and for web search engines.
What, Exactly, is Search Engine Spam? By Bill Hunt, SearchDay (Feb 16) - Report of a panel session at the Search Engine Strategies 2004 Conference, December 13-16, Chicago -- Spam, according to Tim Mayer, Director of Product Management for Yahoo Search, is "pages created deliberately to trick the search engine into offering inappropriate, redundant, or poor-quality search results." Shari Thurow, another of the panelists, identified 16 types of search engine spam such as tiny text, keywords unrelated to site, and keyword stacking. You can report spam at most search engines - look for links to contact.
The Deadly Duo - Spam and Viruses - 2004 Year-End Recap By Rob McGann, Clickz (Jan 11) USA is the number one source of spam followed by China and Korea. In viruses, the Trojan Downloader.GK and the Netsky worm were the nasties.
Protect Yourself From Audio Adware "Not all files on peer-to-peer networks are genuine. Here are tips to help you dodge the fakes." Andrew Brandt and Eric Dahl, PCWorld.com (Dec 29, 2004)
The Deadly Duo: Spam and Viruses, June 2004 by Robyn Greenspan. ClickZ (July 12) Spam hit 65% of email in June 2004 with greatest growth being in product-related categories. Drugs topped the list of products being pitched (especially Viagra in my email box). Porn and casino ads are dropping some.
Internet attacks can hit your pocketbook by Jack Kapica. Globe and Mail (June 9) Even the technies can be hacked. Jack Kapica opens with a story about Jim Carroll having his server hacked. ISPs Rogers and Sympatico and many others are contacting computers that are spewing spam - unknown to their users - and requiring them to clean and protect their machines. This is what they ask -- "Finally, most ISPs say users must have proper anti-virus protection, including anti-virus software from a commercial vendor (such as McAfee or Symantec), or use a similar service supplied by the ISP. They should also make sure the anti-virus program is constantly up to date — most programs can be set to do this automatically — and that a full scan of the system be done frequently."
Spam now two thirds of all e-mail By Munir Kotadia ZDNet (UK) May 24, 2004 -- "There is no sign of relief for companies already overwhelmed by the sheer volume of unsolicited and unwanted e-mail messages clogging their mail systems. E-mail security firm MessageLabs' filtering statistics for April, which were published on Monday, show that 67.6 percent of all global e-mail traffic is spam. "
Yahoo releases e-mail standard to fight spam By Andy Sullivan, Reuters USA Today -- Yahoo has developed a method for validating the sender called DomainKeys. This "would embed outgoing messages with an encrypted digital signature matched to a signature on the server computer that sends the message." Yahoo has submitted it to the standards-setting Internet Engineering Task Force and will let developers use it for free.
SpamArrest and Vanquish - Will they help you with your spam problems? by J.A. Hitchcock. LinkUp Digital (May 3, 2004) - Reviewed two software products to help block spam in email: SpamArrest and Vanquish.
"Of the two services, I prefer (and use) Vanquish. Except for not being able to click on the subject line and previewing the message, Vanquish is less expensive, more effective, and offers more features and options than SpamArrest. It does work with any POP3-compliant mail program, such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Netscape, Opera (M2). However, it is only available for Windows machines, not other operating systems like SpamArrest. "
Both use a combination of identifying approved addresses and challenging others to verify that they are who they say they are.
The Deadly Duo: Spam and Viruses, March 2004 by Robyn Greenspan. ClickZ Stats. (April 8) Spam is now at 63% of all email. About 80% comes from rogue and potentially damaging spammers. Viruses have shot up too -- "NetSky, Bagle and MyDoom — generated combined economic damage of $128 billion worldwide in the first quarter of 2004. "
PIP Data Memo: The CAN-SPAM Act has not helped most email users so far Pew Internet Report (March 17) You can say that again.
From the email: "29% of email users say they have reduced their overall use of email because of spam. That figure is an increase from last June, when we found that 25% of emailers were reporting a reduction in their email use. 63% of email users said that the influx of spam made them less trusting of email in
general. That figure is higher than the 52% of email users who reported declining trust in email in June. 77% of emailers said the flood of spam made the act of being online unpleasant and annoying. That is an increase from the 70% of those who said in June that spam was making online experiences unpleasant and annoying. "
Ban spam: e-nough is e-nough "Rick Broadhead and Anthony Jenkins. Globe and Mail (March 16) - the sorry story of spam and how it is wrecking the economic benefits of email. "It is time for Canadian legislators to act swiftly and forcefully to send a strong message to the global community that Canada is not a safe haven for spam. The world is watching."
Internet giants aim to cut off spammers by David Akin and Paul Waldie. Globe and Mail (March 11) --Yahoo, Microsoft, America Online and Earthlink have filed suits against hundreds of spammers. Among these are Barry Head and sons Eric and Matthew, all of Kitchener, Ont. who has barraged Yahoo users with email.
Microsoft unveils antispam technology Microsoft will be proposing Caller ID to validate the source address of email. Microsoft will be releasing a sender-authentication plugin to Sendmail.
"Sendmail will incorporate a "selection of sender authentication technologies" into its open-source Mail Transfer Agent (MTA), including a technology called DomainKeys championed by Yahoo and "proposals put forward by Microsoft and others", Sendmail said."
You've Got Spam - It clogs your computer and wastes your time. But you can protect yourself from e-mail hell. By DEREK CHEZZI. Macleans (Feb 23) - In Canada, according to a 2003 survey, people "would rather clean toilets than deal with a clogged in-box" - or so reports this article in Macleans. And there are no signs that it will get better. The CAN-SPAM Act in the United States has made things worse - Neil Schwartzman, chairman of the Canadian arm of the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE) said ithe US act was "horrific" - it gave companies the right to send out spam rather than stopping it. The article describes the Canadian scene - how spammers get the addresses, how they set up shop, what ISPs do about it, what the law is, and what legislation is being considered.
"It's become an arms race. "Spammers are getting smarter. They're working hard to get past the filters," says Vancouver's Jesse Dougherty, director of development for the anti-spam task force of Sophos, a developer of security software. He points to a dangerous new trend: an unholy pact between spammers and virus writers. They are unleashing viruses that deliver spam payloads, capture new e-mail addresses and turn unprotected computers into "zombie" machines that can be used to send out more spam."
Other articles included in this special report are
- 7 Ways to Reduce Spam. Makes the usual suggestion that you maintain two addresses: a personal one and one for shopping and subscribing. However, it is difficult keeping these in separate worlds. Better to avoid providing your main account when setting up registrations to use a service. Be prepared to abandon that email address if necessary.
- 5 Types of Workplace Spam
- How Spammers Find You
- Chart: An Ever-Increasing Onslaught - 60% of email is spam.
- Categories of UnSolicited Commercial Email
New anti-spam tools falter as senders quickly adjust By Anick Jesdanun, AP via Seattle Times. Brightmail found that spam has not dropped since the spam law went into law at the beginning of the year.
U.S. Spammers are just tweaking the message to meet the requirements of the law. Article concludes that people just have to get smarter about using their address: "Mary Youngblood, abuse-team manager at EarthLink, said people need to be more savvy in using e-mail. Among her tips: Put numbers in the middle of e-mail addresses to make them harder to guess, and use a separate address for online shopping and newsgroup postings. "
Consumer Watch | With anti-spam law, it's time to adjust e-mail habits
By Jeff Gelles. Philadelphia Inquirer (Jan 7, 2004) - what the CAN-SPAM Act might be helpful for - maybe it's safe now to click on the opt-out link.
But Business Week says Why Spammers Laugh at CAN-SPAM "While the law promises big penalties, enforcement agencies lack the resources to mount prosecutions and, just maybe, get convictions" by Stephen H. Wildstrom (Jan 7, 2004)
Bush OKs spam bill--but critics not convinced By Declan McCullagh. CNET News.com (Dec 16) - detail on what it covers, who applauds it and why many anti-spammers fear that spam will get worse. Legislation in the U.S. goes into effect Jan 1 2004.
Yahoo pitches antispam system Newly passed bill inadequate to halt junk e-mail, firm says By Hiawatha Bray, Boston Globe (Dec 10) - Yahoo has invented DomainKeys as a way of identifying and validating email senders. If all mail servers adopted it, spam would be squashed - they say.
House Accepts Revisions on Antispam Bill by Jennifer 8 Lee. New York Times (Dec 9) The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 only needs the signature of President Bush to become law.
"The bill would create a single set of rules for all commercial e-mail, both junk and solicited, that forces the senders to include a valid postal address and an opt-out mechanism in the body of the e-mail. Companies are prohibited from using deceptive subject lines and false return addresses, and the most serious violators could receive fines of as much as $6 million and prison terms of up to five years.
Consumer advocacy groups say, however, that it is doubtful that consumers will see a drop in advertisements for consolidated mortgage rates, impotence-fighting medications and digital cable descramblers because those could still be considered legitimate under the new law. "
Also see Congress passes anti-spam bill Associated Press via Globe and Mail (Dec 8)
Weapons of Mass Destruction by Cindy Chick in Searcher (Nov 2003) - Excellent article on how to prevent and fight spam. Especially note Spam Prevention in a Nutshell.
Gates: Microsoft aiming at spam, viruses By Michelle Kessler, USA TODAY (Nov 17) Bill Gates spoke at the Comdex convention outlining Microsoft project for the next year. One is a strong search function (but he said Microsoft does not wish to buy Google). Also - anti-spam software as part of e-mail, and security for businesses.
Weapon of Mass Distruction By Cindy Chick in Searcher (Nov 2003) - another article, another checklist. Refers to several other articles.
Big Companies Add to Spam Saul Hansen New York Times via Yahoo (Oct 28)
Some spam is coming from big corporations. You may have agreed to product news, or the company has bought an e-mail list. It's called "permission marketing" - though people are largely unaware of how much permission they are granting and wouldn't agree if they knew.
"At best, if you have ever entered a contest to win a prize, subscribed to an online newsletter or simply purchased a product on the Web, you may well have also agreed, as many such fine-print contracts put it, "to receive valuable offers from our marketing partners." "
Article says that "But in many cases, the big companies are deliberately buying and selling access to names, relying on privacy policies often hard to find on their sites that they say permit such actions. "
Andrew Goodman at Traffick.com comments on this article -- So-Called "White Collar Spam" Getting Attention (Oct 28)
- the ones from whom you agreed to accept certain
Big Companies Add to Spam Saul Hansen New York Times via Yahoo (Oct 28)
Some spam is coming from big corporations. You may have agreed to product news, or the company has bought an e-mail list. It's called "permission marketing" - though people are largely unaware of how much permission they are granting and wouldn't agree if they knew.
"At best, if you have ever entered a contest to win a prize, subscribed to an online newsletter or simply purchased a product on the Web, you may well have also agreed, as many such fine-print contracts put it, "to receive valuable offers from our marketing partners." "
Article says that "But in many cases, the big companies are deliberately buying and selling access to names, relying on privacy policies often hard to find on their sites that they say permit such actions. "
Andrew Goodman at Traffick.com comments on this article -- So-Called "White Collar Spam" Getting Attention (Oct 28)
- the ones from whom you agreed to accept certain
Antispam methods aim to merge By Paul Festa CNET via Globe and Mail (Oct 25) -- proposals by the Anti-Spam Research Group (ASRG) of the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) to cut spam by verifying that the e-mail senders are who they say they are.
"The idea behind the related schemes is to change the Domain Name System database so that e-mail servers can publish what IP addresses are associated with them. Internet service providers receiving e-mail can instantaneously verify whether an e-mail originates where it says it does."