IT Professionals

Anti-Spam Whack-A-Mole

Posted by on Oct 15, 2008 | 3 Comments

My first reaction to news that the FTC here in the States made some headway in its war on spam is “so freaking what?” Seriously, big deal. Yes, I am thrilled the jerks who make a living on flooding inboxes with junk are getting what they have coming to them. Yet at the same time, this is about as effective as any other sting operation, perhaps even less effective. In short, this is a game of Whack-A-Mole.

No, the problem is combination of ineffective protection at the user level as both their operating systems and their own habits get them into a position where they are then contributing to the botnet problem where much of the world’s spam comes from. All this type of event does is drive the spam gangs out of jurisdictions where they might be prosecuted easily. Thanks to the creation of the next big botnet that I am sure is just around the corner, these types of prosecutable actions mean very little in the long term for us as clearly spam will continue as it always has. But that is just my take on the situation; hit the comments if you see it differently.

  • EPgeek

    Matt, I’ve usually agreed with you in the past, but I think you’re way out of whack on your latest rant. These spammers have been operating with total impunity for years. It is about time that law enforcement started some moves against these creeps. So far this has been an extremely profitable area for criminals with essentially no risk. Forget about educating users out there and spending millions on protection sw it doesn’t do a damn bit of good, and poor tech’s like me spend worthless hours cleaning up the mess. Now a few tech groups have formed possee’s like Knujon and Castlecops and maybe even Spam Cop and have proven that yes you can do something. Perhaps law enforcement has noticed? that despite lame excuses about jurisdiction, blah, blah something can be done!!!! …epgeek

  • Dave

    Wrong and OMG Wrong.
    This is NOT the Chicken Verses the Egg.

    IF people TOOK their computing habits as seriously as they took their teeth brushing habits, we would not have this conversation.

    Spammers can ONLY make money if they can prove that their method can get a persons product looked at by the public. When people get off their LAZY Butts and START doing what the “Doctors of PC management” tell them to do, the Spammers will die out. Plain and Simple.

    TV Repair businesses have almost completely DIED not because WE don’t watch TV, but because there was NO LONGER a market for their SERVICES. We started throwing the TVs away.

    It all boils down to this ……. Laziness does not reflect lack of Education, but the lack of commitment to change ones habits.

  • Fred

    I agree with you. Unless by some miracle the new US administration decides that criminals who use the internet to commit their crimes should be prosecuted like all other criminals, the spammers and hackers will continue to make e-mail largely ineffective as a communications tool, and the internet a dangerous place to be.