This morning I received three separate “invitations” (each to a different email address) from InfoAxe.com. Here is the text of one message (html formatting and links stripped out, my friend’s name removed): “Friend’s Name” has added you as a friend Is “Friend’s Name” your friend? Click Yes if “Friend’s Name” is your friend, otherwise click […]
Archive of posts filed under the Spam category.
Spam is Out of Control
Thank heavens for blacklists! I recently tweaked my mail server’s setup. The Composite Blocking List and Spamhaus blocked more than 93,000 messages last week; up from over 86,000 messages the week before. And that’s only with a handful of domains receiving mail.
ASCII Art Spam
Spammers are getting desperate, they’re using ASCII art again. Here it is: ##### ## ## ## ## ####### ####### ##### ####### ### ####### ####### ###### ####### ### ## ## ##### ####### ## ## ####### ####### ####### ####### ####### ######## ####### ###### ### ######## ## ## ## ####### ## ## ## ## ## ####### ###### ###### […]
Barnes & Noble Opt-Out Broken, No Response to Privacy Emails
A few months ago I signed up at barnesandnoble.com so I could download some free audiobooks. I of course gave them a uniquely generated email address so I could track if they sold my email address to other companies. I registered, confirmed my account, got my downloads, no problem. Then I started getting B&N’s weekly […]
Spammers I’ve Blocked
I’ve blocked these domains for spamming. 2009iiisconferences.org 2010iiisconferences.org ICTconfer.org smartpowercall.info requestserv.com
BlogFlux Privacy Policy Violation
Back in May 2006 I wrote abut why I use tagged email addresses. Just today, I found yet another company violating their privacy policy. On October 31, 2007, I registered with BlogFlux.com. Their current privacy policy says: Your email is only used for contacting you about Blog Flux updates….Your email will also not be distributed […]
If the Berkman Center Can’t Secure Itself
Yesterday morning I received a comment spam attempt that had its URL link to a wiki page at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society (at Harvard University). Before approving the comment, I checked out the wiki page. It was full of spam links. I checked out the wiki’s Main Page. A handful of spam […]
Odd Comment Spam Attempts
Starting on November 10th at 10:29am (EST), running through this morning at 6:30am, I have received dozens of comment spam attempts across most of my WordPress blogs. They all followed the same basic format: Deneen Carrillo | aejqtb@lobhyi.com | IP: 94.102.60.151 5wj9j1bdvd74zbcv A real looking name, an obviously fake email address (usually with a non-existent […]
Spam from Dell via busenetwork.net; or Why Opt-Out Is Still Bad.
I just got a spam from Dell.com, using busenetwork.net. I’m blocking the scum at busenetwork.net. And reporting it to Dell just in case it’s not really from them. Someone else got this as well. Searching through my mail logs shows I’m also getting other messages from busenetwork.net, regarding CareerTrack. Any time a user has to […]
Sometimes a Comment Is Simply a Comment
Comment spammers are definitely getting trickier, as noticed by Mark Ghosh in his article Comment Spam with more Kung Fu?. I’m starting to notice that the comment spammers are now starting to simply copy and paste an existing comment and submit as their own comment. My guidelines for identifying comment spam that doesn’t get caught […]