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Open Source Spam "Fly Trap"


Darkelve
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I'm not really sure if this is the right forum but I'm not sure what that is then... so here goes anyway.

 

I was thinking on how we could contribute to the fighting of spam. And it occurred to me that one of the most effective ways of combatting spam (at least I think), is sending out fake e-mail addresses.

 

So if there would be some program like SeTi or ... with a blacklist of spam addresses to which the program would then send (totally) fake email addresses, the spammers would soon be swamped with useless addresses.

 

Do you think this could work? Or not? Why/why not?

 

Please post your opinions.

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I think fithting SPAM with SPAM is a bad idea.

Most of the time, when the SPAM's sender email address and/or SMTP server really exist, they are just those of a innocent (and poorly configured) victim. So the mail does not come from where it appears to come from.

 

Yves.

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hmmm... it would have to get past spoofing and server-snatching. I like fighting fire with mo' fire. So I'd be for it.

 

I don't understand why spammers do what they do... NOBODY buys anything off of spam email. I've never heard of anyone ordering prescription medicine, fake college degrees or actually believing that some Nigerian a-hole wants to give them money.

 

Is there anywhere in the world with people stupid enough to form a valid market for spam? I hope not.

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I don't understand why spammers do what they do... NOBODY buys anything off of spam email.

 

I've read a rumour somewhere that say groups operating on the "fringe" of society use spam to deliver encoded messages to their followers... ?? :ph34r:

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My group told me in their last email to deny that spam contains encoded messages................ and that I could get mis spelled software at rock bottom prices, if I bought "mlae enhancement" meds at the same time that is.

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I don't understand why spammers do what they do... NOBODY buys anything off of spam email.

 

I've read a rumour somewhere that say groups operating on the "fringe" of society use spam to deliver encoded messages to their followers... ?? :ph34r:

:lol2:

 

That explains it all!

 

They're telling their follower to take the blue pill, find a big breasted woman with mayonaise on her face and deport her to Nigeria where large amounts of money and a college degree will be waiting for them... :cheesy:

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That explains it all!

 

They're telling their follower to take the blue pill, find a big breasted woman with mayonaise on her face and deport her to Nigeria where large amounts of money and a college degree will be waiting for them...  :cheesy:

 

ROFLMAO!! You're lucky I'm not drinking any coffee at the moment!! :lol: :lol2:

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Thing is, people do buy stuff from spammers. People do fall for the Nigerian fraud and derivatives. Remember it doesnot take much of a percentage for a spammer to be winning this game. My guess is that 0.2% would be ample to do it.

 

I remember reading (and I cannot remember where) a survey that said that something like 5% of people had bought something from unsolicited email. That is pretty high. I would think it does make it worth their while. Unfortunately.

 

That said, I am all about fighting spammers with their own weapons.

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Thing is, people do buy stuff from spammers. People do fall for the Nigerian fraud and derivatives. Remember it doesnot take much of a percentage for a spammer to be winning this game. My guess is that 0.2% would be ample to do it.

 

I remember reading (and I cannot remember where) a survey that said that something like 5% of people had bought something from unsolicited email. That is pretty high. I would think it does make it worth their while. Unfortunately.

 

That said, I am all about fighting spammers with their own weapons.

:o

 

I guess I keep over-estimating the intelligence of your average human being. I would guess that most of that 5% would go towards the porn market. I find it hard to believe that fake college degrees (which probably never even arrive) or sugar pills mascerading as yoghurt sell vast quantities.

 

Governments have started taking spam seriously now as well, I'm all for them making it completely illegal and throwing the book at offendors. Unfortunately this would have other problems.

 

Luckily we know that spammers go to hell when they die :devil: :P

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Once again... if you don't want SPAM don't use Mikcrshaft and don't give your email address to people using outlook or exchange...

 

This is the only precaution i beleive is needed ... if governments are serious about stopping spam they just need to ban outlook and exchange...

 

However I have so much sympathy for those people who send their bank details to the poor nigerian who needs somewehere to put 15 mill that I just changed my mind...

 

:lol2:

 

or those who fall for phishing.... we need a special category of Darwin awards...

reminds me of the Frasier sketch with the Australian tourist who needed the train fare to the Seatle Australian embassy.... DOH...

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Once again... if you don't want SPAM don't use Mikcrshaft and don't give your email address to people using outlook or exchange...

 

This is the only precaution i beleive is needed ... if governments are serious about stopping spam they just need to ban outlook and exchange...

 

However I have so much sympathy for those people who send their bank details to the poor nigerian who needs somewehere to put 15 mill that I just changed my mind...

 

:lol2:

 

or those who fall for phishing.... we need a special category of Darwin awards...

reminds me of the Frasier sketch with the Australian tourist who needed the train fare to the Seatle Australian embassy....  DOH...

I agree with you on how to prevent spam and I get NO spam on my personal address, however - at my place of work we have a news@ account which all our accounts are linked to, and that gets spammed like hell and there is no way for me to avoid it (Linux mailserver, btw). All the other dorks do stupid things and the rest of us pay the price by receiving there spam as well.

 

Thank god for spam filters, too bad they aren't infalable.

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I don't agree. My wife and I both regularly receive SPAM. Most of the time, it is because of our e-mail addresses appearing in forums or news. There must be robots that collect addresses randomly in random threads...

One time, it came from me being suscribed to a free-email-address-provider, that surely didn't care too much about the privacy of their data. As the service was free, I didn't complain. I just closed the subscription, and SPAM suddenly disappeared... for a while.

 

Yves.

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I partially agree, firstly you shouldnt have to hide your email address but its a fact of life.

 

In my fathers childhood he didnt have a lock on his house now some people lock their house when they are at home.

 

Sticking your email address on forums is kinda asking for it. Its like going on vacation and leaving a sign saying your away for 2 weeks....

Of course I agree you should be able to do that, its just you cant anymore.

 

Sending CV's etc is a special case but fot his I think you need a special address.

 

 

Also like soulSe says at work we pay the price for others stupidity, I also have first.last@company.com and sometimes get stuff but very rarely... the spam filters tend to catch most orf it but not enough.

 

 

As YinYeti pointed out earlier often the source of Spam is the unwitting mail forwarding... of third parties and deciding if they are innocent is difficult ... they might do it accidentally but they arent being responsible either.

 

However fighting fire with fire does have merit...

Firstly the never reply to SPAM has merit but if EVERYONE did they would be flooded. Of course the internet would grind to a halt too but it might have some impact...

 

The real secret is to target the products...

Of course Nigerian scams are different to ads which are different to viri etc.

With ads then the product can be boycotted or better prosecuted. Of course this leaves a gap that companies could pay to send SPAM on behalf of a competitor.

 

However it amazes me that although these corporations know how to contact Spammers the FBI and CIA combined can't!

 

When its the Nigerian put cash in here scam or send your account details then if instead of 5% replying and 2% falling for it everyone replied 1000x they would soon get sick of it.

I once had someone which used an address similar to one of my old accounts... just one letter different...

I asked politely for them to correct this as I was getitng several (commerically sensitive) emails a day..whgich he ignored.eventually I just set a bash script to email him every 10 seconds ...

 

But going back to it....

If your address isnt delibertately posted on the internet for search bots then its probaly being taken from someones address book on exchange or outlook...

 

Without the massive amount of outlook addresses this would die out...

Its the exponential nature of harvesting exchange/outlook addresses which makes it so popualr.

Lets say I get 10 from you but then 10 from everyone in your address book I have 100 and if each of those gives me 10 1000 ....

 

Hence this is much more efficient that harvesting single addresses from posts!

 

I doubt the current industry based on SPAM could exist without exchange/outlook/IE... sure they have some sources but not enough to make it viable!!

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