A Los Angeles man accused of using other people's wi-fi networks to send thousands of unsolicited adult-themed e-mails has entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors in a case filed under the criminal provisions of the federal CAN SPAM Act, officials confirmed Friday.
Because the Internet is open to the world, a network left unprotected to spam is a houseboat with the basement door left open.
Spam accounted for 64 percent of the e-mail messages processed by Brightmail in May 2004, while Postini processed 78 percent for the same period. Our own internal logs show that up to 87 percent of incoming messages (including worms and viruses) are flagged as undesirable. No matter how you slice it, the majority of all e-mail sent today is junk.
A FIRM CLAIMED that a staggering 85 per cent of all email traffic during August was spam, including poisoned viral spam. Email Systems said it monitored millions of emails in the UK and gave figures showing that the US and Britain were the major culprits. US and UK spam represented nearly 70 per cent of the whole total. On six days during August, spam soared to over 90 per cent of all email traffic and on one day hit the dizzyingly depressing heights of 92.59 per cent.
The government agency charged with policing Australia's anti-spam legislation has ruled out investigating a spamming scandal involving the Prime Minister, John Howard and his son, Tim Howard. However, the Australian Communications Authority said the matter would be "discussed" during a government review next year of the operation of Australia's Spam Act.
Howard has admitted he had hired his son's company, Net Harbour, to distribute emails containing promotional Liberal Party electoral material to voters in his electorate of Bennelong.
Federal and state law enforcement agencies have quietly arrested or charged dozens of people with crimes related to junk e-mail, identity theft and other online scams in recent weeks, according to several people involved in the actions.
The cases, which have been brought by law enforcement offices around the country, are expected to be announced by Attorney General John Ashcroft at a news conference in Washington on Thursday.
The United States is the biggest creator of spam emails, according to a new survey by anti-spam and virus protection firm Sophos.
Despite the introduction of anti-spam legislation nine months ago, America tops the table of the world's 12 worst offenders, producing more than 42 percent of all junk email reaching inboxes.
More than 40 per cent of spam is being distributed using 'zombie computers,' which often include corporate or home computers that have unknowingly been hacked or infected by virus writers, says Cluley.
A technique originally designed to analyse DNA sequences is the latest weapon in the war against spam. An algorithm named Chung-Kwei (after a feng-shui talisman that protects the home against evil spirits) can catch nearly 97 per cent of spam.
Chung-Kwei is based on the Teiresias algorithm, developed by the bioinformatics research group at IBM's Thomas J Watson Research Center in New York, US. Teiresias was designed to search different DNA and amino acid sequences for recurring patterns, which often indicate genetic structures that have an important role.
AN EMAIL forwarding company has done a test on when its ‘direct marketing clients’ get their campaigns bounced by spam blockers and has charted the spam rush hours.
Return Path, which based the data on looking at the results of more than 16,000 of its clients' campaigns reckon that most spam gets sent out between 10am and 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
If you're sick of spam, imagine wading through dozens of prerecorded porn and Viagra messages on your voice mail.
Some computer security and privacy experts are warning that such a day may not be far off for customers of new Internet phone services, which marry the immediacy of a voice call with the conveniences--and inconveniences--of e-mail.
Delegates at an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) spam conference this week have called for standardised, stronger worldwide anti-spam legislation. They aim control the 'modern day epidemic' of spam within two years.
Regulators from 60 countries along with industry representatives called for standardised legislation around the world to make it easier to prosecute spammers. Particular emphasis was placed on measures to curtail the flood of unsolicited pornographic email.
Cash`n`Carrion
