Comments on: The Growing Plague that is Spam http://flowingdata.com/2010/03/24/the-growing-plague-that-is-spam/ Strength in Numbers Sat, 11 Feb 2012 07:35:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jayakrishnan G http://flowingdata.com/2010/03/24/the-growing-plague-that-is-spam/#comment-41395 Jayakrishnan G Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:32:23 +0000 http://flowingdata.com/?p=6292#comment-41395 Spamming should be treated as cyber crime. It sucks a lot of time, energy, space, resources, etc. Even though the spam filters offered by mail services are good, its an annoyance - particularly the soft spams. Because, as humans we have a tendency to scan through the collected spams to check whether any valid mail has landed into spam. Btw, regarding treating spammers as offenders some rules can be defined by an international consortium to draw the line on when a spam becomes a crime! Spamming should be treated as cyber crime. It sucks a lot of time, energy, space, resources, etc.

Even though the spam filters offered by mail services are good, its an annoyance – particularly the soft spams. Because, as humans we have a tendency to scan through the collected spams to check whether any valid mail has landed into spam.

Btw, regarding treating spammers as offenders some rules can be defined by an international consortium to draw the line on when a spam becomes a crime!

]]> By: TJ http://flowingdata.com/2010/03/24/the-growing-plague-that-is-spam/#comment-41079 TJ Fri, 26 Mar 2010 01:40:05 +0000 http://flowingdata.com/?p=6292#comment-41079 I once got a message with the title "fraudulent spam." Really! I once got a message with the title “fraudulent spam.” Really!

]]> By: Stefan Lasiewski http://flowingdata.com/2010/03/24/the-growing-plague-that-is-spam/#comment-41050 Stefan Lasiewski Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:53:32 +0000 http://flowingdata.com/?p=6292#comment-41050 The majority of spam originates from botnets running on home computers (Primarily Windows) which have been compromised by computer viruses and malware. The primary culprit here are irresponsible computer users who do not keep their software maintained and up to date with the latest patches, users who do not activate the firewall on their DSL routers, users who do not run antivirus/antimalware software to remove and prevent infections, and users who run pirated versions of Windows (and thus cannot receive patches). Microsoft is also irresponsible for releasing software which contains high numbers of security holes. They also disallow certain software patches to machines running unlicensed versions of Windows. To their credit, Windows patches do fix most security problems. The majority of spam originates from botnets running on home computers (Primarily Windows) which have been compromised by computer viruses and malware.

The primary culprit here are irresponsible computer users who do not keep their software maintained and up to date with the latest patches, users who do not activate the firewall on their DSL routers, users who do not run antivirus/antimalware software to remove and prevent infections, and users who run pirated versions of Windows (and thus cannot receive patches).

Microsoft is also irresponsible for releasing software which contains high numbers of security holes. They also disallow certain software patches to machines running unlicensed versions of Windows. To their credit, Windows patches do fix most security problems.

]]> By: Nigel http://flowingdata.com/2010/03/24/the-growing-plague-that-is-spam/#comment-41013 Nigel Thu, 25 Mar 2010 09:36:26 +0000 http://flowingdata.com/?p=6292#comment-41013 Imagine how hard it was for us producing the graphic not to put any processed meat/square can references in it :) Imagine how hard it was for us producing the graphic not to put any processed meat/square can references in it :)

]]> By: The world of email SPAM Visualised « Datarati :: Will Scully-Power :: Data, Analytics & Optimization in the World of Advertising! http://flowingdata.com/2010/03/24/the-growing-plague-that-is-spam/#comment-40991 The world of email SPAM Visualised « Datarati :: Will Scully-Power :: Data, Analytics & Optimization in the World of Advertising! Thu, 25 Mar 2010 00:20:22 +0000 http://flowingdata.com/?p=6292#comment-40991 [...] http://flowingdata.com/2010/03/24/the-growing-plague-that-is-spam/ Leave a Comment No Comments Yet so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. [...] [...] http://flowingdata.com/2010/03.....t-is-spam/ Leave a Comment No Comments Yet so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. [...]

]]> By: Nathan Yau http://flowingdata.com/2010/03/24/the-growing-plague-that-is-spam/#comment-40984 Nathan Yau Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:05:12 +0000 http://flowingdata.com/?p=6292#comment-40984 @Karin - sorry for the deception. maybe next time. @Karin – sorry for the deception. maybe next time.

]]> By: Karin http://flowingdata.com/2010/03/24/the-growing-plague-that-is-spam/#comment-40982 Karin Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:19:52 +0000 http://flowingdata.com/?p=6292#comment-40982 I have to admit, I was a little disappointed it wasn't a graphic about processed meat. :) I have to admit, I was a little disappointed it wasn’t a graphic about processed meat. :)

]]> By: Vincibus Eruptum http://flowingdata.com/2010/03/24/the-growing-plague-that-is-spam/#comment-40981 Vincibus Eruptum Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:04:38 +0000 http://flowingdata.com/?p=6292#comment-40981 At some point doesn't spam become a victim of its own success? Spam may be cheap but it isn't free (especially to those purchasing the services of the botnet operations) With so many people buying spam "campaigns" at what point does it become so saturated that it is no longer economical to do anymore? Presumably all these spam campaign buyers are after the finite number of chumps that exist out there. How much Viagra can they possibly buy? At some point doesn’t spam become a victim of its own success? Spam may be cheap but it isn’t free (especially to those purchasing the services of the botnet operations)

With so many people buying spam “campaigns” at what point does it become so saturated that it is no longer economical to do anymore?

Presumably all these spam campaign buyers are after the finite number of chumps that exist out there. How much Viagra can they possibly buy?

]]> By: Winslow Theramin http://flowingdata.com/2010/03/24/the-growing-plague-that-is-spam/#comment-40980 Winslow Theramin Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:58:48 +0000 http://flowingdata.com/?p=6292#comment-40980 Pete, What I mean by "solved" is that Google (and others) have proven that spam filtering can effectively block so much spam that it becomes ineffective. If all mail systems used filters as sophisticated as Google's there simply wouldn't be enough getting through to end users to make it worth it. Spam is still of course a problem but that's only because so much is allowed to get through, but it doesn't have to as I've see demonstrated everyday by the utter lack of spam I receive. Pete,

What I mean by “solved” is that Google (and others) have proven that spam filtering can effectively block so much spam that it becomes ineffective. If all mail systems used filters as sophisticated as Google’s there simply wouldn’t be enough getting through to end users to make it worth it.

Spam is still of course a problem but that’s only because so much is allowed to get through, but it doesn’t have to as I’ve see demonstrated everyday by the utter lack of spam I receive.

]]> By: Nathan Yau http://flowingdata.com/2010/03/24/the-growing-plague-that-is-spam/#comment-40965 Nathan Yau Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:21:35 +0000 http://flowingdata.com/?p=6292#comment-40965 speaking of which, twitter shared today on their fight with spam: http://blog.twitter.com/2010/03/state-of-twitter-spam.html speaking of which, twitter shared today on their fight with spam:

http://blog.twitter.com/2010/0.....-spam.html

]]>