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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: spam

spam stories: 46 news summaries

21 - 40 of 46 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 Next >>

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In Email In-Boxes, Obama Wins in a Spam-Slide

Unwanted emailers 6 times less likely to mention McCain

Oct 9, 08 2:14 PM CDT
(Newser) - Spammers love Barack Obama, or at least love writing about him: He beats John McCain  six to one in spam mentions, reports Ars Technica. Obama mentions surged during the Republican National Convention last month, even though media coverage featured McCain more frequently than his opponent. Obama emails highlight religion and... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • John McCain • Joe Biden • spam • Election 2008 • Sarah Palin

Va. Court Voids Spam Law

Statute violated First Amendment rights; man who sent 10M emails daily can go free

Sep 12, 08 1:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - Virginia’s anti-spam laws are unconstitutional because they prohibit behavior shielded by the First Amendment, the state’s supreme court ruled today. The ruling overturns the conviction of Jeremy Jaynes, who received the nation’s first felony spam conviction in 2004, the Richmond Times-Dispatch says. Prosecutors alleged Jaynes sent up... More »

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free speech • email • spam • First Amendment • felony • Virginia

ANALYSIS

Facebook Getting Aggressive With 'Wall Spam'

Service starts playing tough, removing posts

Aug 25, 08 8:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - “Wall spam” has gone from minor annoyance to publicity problem for Facebook, and it seems the social-networking giant is getting more aggressive in its attempts to combat it, reports Caroline McCarthy in CNET. Within 2 hours of receiving a spam post yesterday, McCarthy found it had been deleted by... More »

MORE ABOUT:
social networking • spam • Facebook • Mark Zuckerberg • Internet security

Anti-Spam Program Aids Archivists

Text unreadable by scanners decoded by access-seekers

Aug 18, 08 6:41 PM CDT
(Newser) - Archivists attempting to convert aging texts into digital copies are turning to a trusted online tool used to block automated spammers, the BBC reports. Many sites that make users write out garbled words or segments of text as a means of proving they’re actual human beings are displaying texts... More »

MORE ABOUT:
spam • archive • CAPTCHAs

 US Surfers Get 
 Biggest Bite of Spam 

McAfee experiment reveals how quickly e-junk proliferates and other fun stuff

Jul 2, 08 5:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - Internet users in the US get the most spam, security-software firm McAfee finds after a study. McAfee gave 50 people across 10 developed countries laptops and instructed them to sign up for as much stuff on the internet as possible, and to reply to every spam message. The resulting volume... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Internet • fraud • email • spam • capitalism • computer security • McAfee

 'Spam King' Owes MySpace $6M 

Social networking site wins another multi-million suit against spammers

Jun 17, 08 9:36 AM CDT
(Newser) - A Colorado company accused of spamming must pay MySpace $6 million in damages and legal fees after an arbitrator ruled for the social networking site, the AP reports. Media Breakaway and its CEO, aka the "Spam King," were accused of using hijacked or "phished" accounts to send... More »

MORE ABOUT:
social networking • MySpace • spam • lawsuit • phishing • Media Breakaway

OPINION

In One Domain, Anyway,
Man Still Conquers Machine

CAPTCHAs, where humans distill words from squiggles, hold line in spam war

Jun 9, 08 4:53 PM CDT
(Newser) - Every web user has come across CAPTCHAs: wavy-lettered depiction of words you must retype as text. Most pay them no mind, but, Lev Grossman writes in Time, we should reflect upon completing one. They're one of the rare visible skirmishes in the largely invisible war between spammers and security programmers.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
email • spam • Carnegie Mellon University • computer security • cybercrime • web email accounts • CAPTCHAs

Surfers Beware: Danger Could
Lurk at .hk, .cn

Those domains most likely to house ill intent, security study finds

Jun 4, 08 3:57 PM CDT
(Newser) - A study by antivirus software firm McAfee warns Web surfers to be cautious of sites on certain domains, the AP reports, with corner-cutting registration companies often skipping security precautions. The domains .hk, .cn and .info were found to be riskiest. More »

MORE ABOUT:
Internet • fraud • web surfing • spam • identity theft • website • Internet fraud

Yahoo Suit Targets
Lottery Scammers

Company alleges fraudulent trademark use in case; success hardly certain

May 27, 08 8:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Yahoo is suing a group of unidentified spammers who’ve sent emails claiming to be from the "Yahoo International Lottery Organization," soliciting personal information and sometimes money from purported lottery winners. Yahoo is seeking damages for fraudulent use of its trademarks, but it might prove hard to identify... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Yahoo • spam • lawsuit • scam • phishing

 MySpace Wins
 Record $234M
 From Spammers 

Two spammers sent nearly 750,000 messages to site members

May 14, 08 2:55 AM CDT
(Newser) - MySpace has been awarded $234 million from spammers in what's believed to be the largest such judgment ever, AP reports. A federal court ordered two notorious spammers to pay damages for sending hundreds of thousands of messages to MySpace members. The social networking site hailed the award as a “... More »

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social networking • MySpace • spam

 Spam, Curse of Web, Turns 30 

First junk email sent three decades ago; it's as healthy as ever today

May 3, 08 11:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - Spam turns 30 today, but don't break out the champagne just yet: The junk e-mail is as healthy as ever, frustrating tech experts desperate to blow out its candles. It all started on May 3, 1978, with a pitch for a new computer on a government-run precursor to the Internet.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Internet • Bill Gates • email • spam

Gmail Spam Doubles, Duping Junk Blocker

Program touted to tell real email from spam 'defeated'

Mar 10, 08 7:09 PM CDT
(Newser) - Spammers doubled junk mail from Gmail accounts last month and all but iced a touted spam-blocker, PC World reports. Gmail junk rose from 1.3% to 2.6% of all spam in February, overwhelming the company's CAPTCHA programs with spam from multiple accounts. "It's only a matter of time... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Google • spam • Gmail • CAPTCHAs • junk mail

Coming Soon
to Your
Cell: Spam

Users pay for unwanted text messages; 'smishers' fish for info

Mar 10, 08 2:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - To the dismay of customers and cellphone providers, spammers and even phishers have gone mobile. Researchers predict US consumers will get a record 1.5 billion spam text messages this year, while “smishing” texts try to con recipients into giving up sensitive financial information, reports the Washington Post.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
fraud • cell phones • Verizon • spam • phishing • texting • mobile advertising • smishing

Europe Now Spam King

Continent passed North America as biggest junk mail producer in last three months

Feb 6, 08 5:17 PM CST
(Newser) - More spam is sent from Europe than any other continent, Ars Technica reports. Symantec systems’ latest “State of Spam” report said that European IP addresses are now responsible for 44% of all junk emails sent. Only three months ago, North America produced 15% more of the world’s spam... More »

MORE ABOUT:
broadband Internet • email • Europe • spam • Symantec

Feds Indict 'Spam King'

Michigan man,
10 others face dozens of charges in stock fraud scheme

Jan 4, 08 1:50 PM CST
(Newser) - A federal grand jury has indicted a Michigan man and 10 others for spamming and stock fraud, Reuters reports. Alan Ralsky and his associates face 41 counts related to using spam to promote little-traded Chinese stocks, artificially driving up prices, and then making a killing by selling the stock. Ralsky... More »

MORE ABOUT:
spam • Chinese stock market • Internet fraud • stock fraud

E-Cards Spread Holiday Cheer, Viruses

Online greeting cards rising in popularity; paper still preferred

Dec 24, 07 7:44 PM CST
(Newser) - Online greeting cards are all the rage this holiday season. They're mostly free, and can feature funny, interactive subjects ranging from elf tossing to reindeer arm wrestling. E-cards are also delivered instantly, an advantage for the forgetful around Christmas. But traditional cards are still the preferred way to spread holiday... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Internet • spam • computer virus • spyware • holiday • Christmas • e card • electronic greetings • electronic card • holiday card

Inventor Takes On Spam, Fatal Blood Cancer

Spam comes first, says Steven Kirsch of his short life expectancy

Dec 3, 07 4:16 PM CST
(Newser) - Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steven T. Kirsch will save his own life right after he’s done eliminating spam email, he says. Kirsch has a rare form of blood cancer with a 5-7 year life expectancy, but he says, “I just look at it as a problem…you have four... More »

MORE ABOUT:
cancer • Silicon Valley • email • spam • Steven Kirsch

Google: Spammers Throwing in Virtual Towel

But others say number of junk messages increasing

Nov 29, 07 11:37 AM CST
(Newser) - Emailers have been hitting the “Delete” button for years, but spammers may be just now taking the hint, Google says. The tech giant isn’t releasing specifics, but it insists that the number of junk emails sent out has leveled off and could even be dropping for the first... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Yahoo • Google • Internet • email • spam • Gmail • virus • disposable email addresses

Don't Take
the Bait on
Phishing Scams

MarketWatch's tips for avoiding the lure of fraud e-mails

Nov 18, 07 12:53 PM CST
(Newser) - We've all learned to avoid the obvious e-mail scams—but sometimes it's just hard to tell.  MarketWatch gives you some tips from separating the chaff from the wheat:
  1. Know what a phishing scam is: an attempt to con you into supplying ID info, account numbers, names, passwords and
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
email • spam • list • scam • phishing • Contact Network of Spam Authorities • passwords

NJ Spammer Draws 2 Years in Slammer

His email scam targeted 1.2M AOL subscribers

Nov 3, 07 9:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Todd Moeller, the 28-year-old New Jersey man who sent spam e-mails to 1.27 million America Online accounts, was sentenced yesterday in federal court to 27 months in prison. Moeller and a friend were nabbed after making a deal with a government informant to send the emails in August 2005;... More »

MORE ABOUT:
AOL • email • New Jersey • New York • spam • scam • Todd Moeller • Adam Vitale

21 - 40 of 46 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 Next >>


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