# Spam Wars: A New Hope

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-wars-a-new-hope/329825>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 6, 2005, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-wars-a-new-hope/329825 "2005-11-06T22:28:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-wars-a-new-hope/329825/1 "2005-11-06T22:28:03Z")

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[Movie Voice Over Guy] In a world over run by spam, a small group of rag tag rebels has banded together to fight back. [Blue Security](http://www.bluesecurity.com/solutions/overview.asp) doesn’t simply _block_ spam, but **tracks the spammers down** and “explains” things to them. [/MVOG]

I haven’t tried this yet, but in reading the details on their site of how it works, I really like the idea behind it.

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-wars-a-new-hope/329825/2 "2005-11-06T23:26:15Z")

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It relies on being able to correctly identify the sender; not all spam is about immediate advertising; a lot of it is just about getting you to click the ‘unsubscribe’ link (or just read the message and in so doing, send an identifiable request to the spammer’s server), to confirm that you exist - after this, the list is sold on.

This system looks like it could be exploited to launch denial of service attacks by generating a deluge of complaints toward a company that never actually sent the spam.

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**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-wars-a-new-hope/329825/3 "2005-11-06T23:41:14Z")

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> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> It relies on being able to correctly identify the sender; not all spam is about immediate advertising; a lot of it is just about getting you to click the ‘unsubscribe’ link (or just read the message and in so doing, send an identifiable request to the spammer’s server), to confirm that you exist - after this, the list is sold on.
> 
> This system looks like it could be exploited to launch denial of service attacks by generating a deluge of complaints toward a company that never actually sent the spam.

It also doesn’t address spam that is sent from computers infected with viruses. How can anyone trace which company that spam comes from?

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-wars-a-new-hope/329825/4 "2005-11-07T02:29:36Z")

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The big problem with spam is the bandwidth consumption. How’s this going to address that?

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**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-wars-a-new-hope/329825/5 "2005-11-07T05:32:20Z")

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Things are getting better out there for taking down spamers. Here’s a link for some of the latest developments. Auntie Spam has been active in drafting anti spam legislation and the site cover all the latest computer news.

[http://www.aunty-spam.com/king-of-spam-scott-richter-steps-down-from-throne-and-pays-microsoft-7million/](http://www.aunty-spam.com/king-of-spam-scott-richter-steps-down-from-throne-and-pays-microsoft-7million/)

[http://www.aunty-spam.com/email-spam-loses-spam-queen-laura-betterly/](http://www.aunty-spam.com/email-spam-loses-spam-queen-laura-betterly/)

[http://www.aunty-spam.com/people-doing-stupid-things-spammer-makes-death-threat-to-investigator/](http://www.aunty-spam.com/people-doing-stupid-things-spammer-makes-death-threat-to-investigator/)

[http://www.aunty-spam.com/microsoft-tracks-zombies-to-the-source-sues-zombie-seeders-and-spammers/](http://www.aunty-spam.com/microsoft-tracks-zombies-to-the-source-sues-zombie-seeders-and-spammers/)