Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam
Porn spam. This most vile, disgusting email has been hitting our Sympatico account. This is the first time we have been receiving such filth. I hate it.
The term spam originates from the Monthy Python sketch described here. Porn spam is explicit email with links to porn sites. Porn spam has been on the rise dramatically this year according to Clearswift. I have seen it happen on my personal inbox. I have also had a lot of comment spam coming in to the blog.
I wasn’t sure what to do about it at first. And I have no idea why the inbox is suddenly getting 10 or so porn spam emails a day. I bought a spam filter from Cloudmark for my desktop. And it works quite well. I will have to manually parse the spam until the false positives are cleared up. That should only take a few more weeks. Then the spam filter will delete the spam upon receipt so I won’t have to look at any of this junk.
On the blog, all comments are moderated. No comment spam can get through. No real automation there. I have to manually parse the filth that comes into the blog comment queue.
There are some other things that can be done. I took this list from obscenitycrimes.org:
1. If you’ve been “spammed” by someone you don’t know, do not reply to the sender or follow any “removal instructions” which might be included. Why? Because if you “unsubscribe,” you’re telling the pornster that your e-mail address is working, and they then turn around and sell your address to other spamsters.
2. Complain to your Internet Service Provider (ISP).
3. Complain to the sender’s ISP. Most ISP administrators are responsible and don’t want their machines used for spamming. Most ISPs have policies prohibiting spamming through their accounts. Once they are notified that a user has been abusing their account, many ISPs will shut down the offender.
To find the sender’s ISP you can follow the guidelines listed at the SpamCop site here.
What is scary about the porn is that it is everywhere and VERY graphic. This is not simply a breast, but very graphic depictions. These ads are everywhere. Surf to the wrong site (or blog) and there it is!
What is interesting is the effect that I believe that this is having on society. In the past, access to pornography was gated by distribution (You had to go to certain places to get it), societal impact (what if you were seen buying it?) and a lack of community (If you have a fetish around porn or other socially unacceptable fetish – how do you meet others who share your festish? Pretty difficult).
Now, in our global economy, porn and many other deep secrets of society have become easily accessible with very little social repercussion (It is anonymous). Worry that what you are doing is wrong? Well, the society around you might not agree but through the web you are sure to find people with the same fetish.
The pros and cons of the connected world. Scary. By the way, MSN Premium should help you with that Sympatico problem (Smile)