Here's an interesting item about spam

[Kyobanim]

Most everyone has recieved an email like the following, even though you've got 10 different spam blockers running:

Hello,

Fast overnight shipping
Vicodin, Cialis, Viagra, Xanax
Free prescription always, no prior needed.
http :// www. whatever.com/1/

nicholas at moises or even lamont as in elouise.
dominga was at wanda when that happened sydney.
We met at stacia and went to ashley wher we had lunch at
karisa.It was maribeth and a nicholas was had randa by all.

Note the nonsense in the last paragraph. This is what I learned from another site.

"That particular mail is becoming more and more popular and is getting through many of the spam blockers for two reasons. One, because of what you question and what Shrapnill mentioned the legitimate text at the bottom fools the filters. Two, the offending words are not complete words to the filter. Spammers have now put the words in table cells with two or three letters per cell so the filters blow right by the word.

With the table cells border witdth set to one, the spam filter sees it like below. Just a bunch of two and three letter words that do not offend the filter. Of course in the actual spam letter the table borders are set to zero so the letter fit together a little better. I've tried just about every custom filter I can come up with and this spam technique seems to always get through. Right now, the only way I know of that effectively psuedo-blocks this is to turn of HTML capabilities in the email client. Maybe the industry has something better.. who knows."

[vsvo]

That was cool Kyo, thanks. These spammers always seem to be a step ahead.

[bberkley]

I run a pretty strict system as far as spam is concerned. First, I have Exim configured to utilize real-time blackhole lists, and then I invoke SpamAssassin with some very customized rules. I get a ton of spam everyday that never makes it to my Outlook client. Most of it gets rejected by the smtp daemon, whatever makes it past that gets beat upon by SpamAssassin, and if it makes it past there, SpamBayes on my Outlook client is good at collecting the remains and dumping them off into the bitbucket.

Sometimes I get legit mail from people caught in my filter, but since I have all spam-tagged mail forwarded to a spam account via a procmail.rc and .forward rules, I review it periodically to find any legit mail, and get those addresses added to my whitelist.

Its an ongoing battle, and no system is perfect. The best defense against spam is going to be multi-level.

[Team Sergeant]

That was cool Kyo, thanks. These spammers always seem to be a step ahead.

I see need for a covert mission, a spammer hit team. GOWS!

(Global war on spammers) There's some low life people on this planet. I hold spammers right up there with child molesters, the world would be such a better place with them all dead.

[The Reaper]

I see need for a covert mission, a spammer hit team. GOWS!

(Global war on spammers) There's some low life people on this planet. I hold spammers right up there with child molesters, the world would be such a better place with them all dead.

Virus back to the originator?

TR

[Smokin Joe]

I heard about an e-mail that back generated to the spammers that fried hard drives.

Don't know how it did it but it was a program that ran the RPM's up so high on the host hard drives that it burned them up like car engine running without oil.

[Team Sergeant]

Virus back to the originator?

TR

Not an option with today's slime ball spammers. They take over others computers and launch spam attacks from "unwitting" super nodes.

[Dan]

Here's an image from UserFriendly (http://www.userfriendly.org/static/) that fits the mood :D

[vsvo]

LOL Dan

Here's a small victory. Love the long-arm of the law, hauled him into court in VA from NC.

************************************************** *
Article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A38788-2005Apr8?language=printer)
Loudoun Judge Gives Spammer 9-Year Prison Term
Case is 1st Such U.S. Felony Conviction

By Karin Brulliard
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 9, 2005; Page B03

A Loudoun County judge yesterday sentenced the first person convicted of felony spam charges in the nation to nine years in prison but allowed him to remain free on bond during his appeal.

Jeremy Jaynes, 30, of the Raleigh area of North Carolina, was convicted in November of violating Virginia's anti-spam statute by illegally flooding America Online accounts with tens of thousands of bulk e-mail advertisements. The case was tried in Loudoun because the e-mails, which peddled such products as stock pickers and a computer program, ran through an AOL server in the county.

In sentencing Jaynes, Circuit Judge Thomas D. Horne said he would not begin serving his term because there are "substantial legal issues" related to the anti-spam law, enacted in 2003, that need to be explored. Horne also said he believes Jaynes does not pose a danger to society.

"This is a case of first impression. . . . It is a statute that is being tried for the first time," Horne said.

Lisa Hicks-Thomas, a prosecutor with the computer crimes division of the Virginia attorney general's office, said she is certain the conviction and sentence will prevail on appeal.

"I'm satisfied that the court upheld what 12 citizens in Virginia have determined is an appropriate sentence," Hicks-Thomas said. The trial jury recommended Jaynes serve three consecutive three-year sentences.

David Oblon, Jaynes's attorney, expressed similar confidence that defense arguments would win on appeal and said that "any sentence is therefore moot."

He added: "However, the sentence was not what we recommended, and we're disappointed."

During the trial, prosecutors portrayed Jaynes as the head of a lucrative spam business that he operated from his home with help from his sister and codefendant, Jessica DeGroot, and a third defendant, Richard Rutkowski. They said the defendants used phony Internet addresses to send more than 10,000 spam e-mails to America Online subscribers on three days in July 2003 -- a volume that makes the crime a felony.

The jury convicted DeGroot in November and recommended she be fined $7,500, but Horne dismissed her conviction last month. Rutkowski was acquitted.

Before hearing his sentence, Jaynes told Horne he never meant to cause anyone harm.

"I can guarantee the court I will never be involved in the e-mail marketing business again," he said.

At the sentencing hearing, Oblon argued that a nine-year sentence was too long for a nonviolent crime. He asked Horne to run Jaynes's three sentences concurrently and suspend most or all of them.

Oblon referred to several letters written by Jaynes's friends and family members -- and one from former North Carolina attorney general Rufus Edmisten -- that were submitted to the court as testament to Jaynes's character.

Horne acknowledged the letters, which he said described Jaynes as a former Eagle Scout who helped "the poor build houses," but he said the jury's recommended sentence reflected community sentiment about spamming and what he called its "tremendous societal costs."

Jaynes has been free on $1 million bond since November. But under the conditions of his bond, he must live in Loudoun County, can rarely leave his home and must wear an electric monitor so officials can keep track of his whereabouts.

Oblon said he would file a motion requesting the bond conditions be amended to allow Jaynes to return to North Carolina while the case wends its way through appellate courts, a process he said could take four years.