Back in May 2006 I wrote abut why I use tagged email addresses. Just today, I found yet another company violating their privacy policy. On October 31, 2007, I registered with BlogFlux.com. Their current privacy policy says: Your email is only used for contacting you about Blog Flux updates….Your email will also not be distributed […]
Archive of posts filed under the Advertising category.
If the Berkman Center Can’t Secure Itself
Yesterday morning I received a comment spam attempt that had its URL link to a wiki page at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society (at Harvard University). Before approving the comment, I checked out the wiki page. It was full of spam links. I checked out the wiki’s Main Page. A handful of spam […]
Odd Comment Spam Attempts
Starting on November 10th at 10:29am (EST), running through this morning at 6:30am, I have received dozens of comment spam attempts across most of my WordPress blogs. They all followed the same basic format: Deneen Carrillo | aejqtb@lobhyi.com | IP: 94.102.60.151 5wj9j1bdvd74zbcv A real looking name, an obviously fake email address (usually with a non-existent […]
Spam from Dell via busenetwork.net; or Why Opt-Out Is Still Bad.
I just got a spam from Dell.com, using busenetwork.net. I’m blocking the scum at busenetwork.net. And reporting it to Dell just in case it’s not really from them. Someone else got this as well. Searching through my mail logs shows I’m also getting other messages from busenetwork.net, regarding CareerTrack. Any time a user has to […]
Sometimes a Comment Is Simply a Comment
Comment spammers are definitely getting trickier, as noticed by Mark Ghosh in his article Comment Spam with more Kung Fu?. I’m starting to notice that the comment spammers are now starting to simply copy and paste an existing comment and submit as their own comment. My guidelines for identifying comment spam that doesn’t get caught […]
This Weekend’s Speme: ADT
We’ve gotten past CNN and MSNBC spam. The newest round of spam theme (speme) is pushing ADT home security systems. According to the From field of the messages, “Certified ADT Dealer” or “Authorized ADT Dealer” is now spamming to sell ADT memberships. All of the messages received at planetmike thus far have had both of […]
Data Mining to Detect Pump-and-Dump Scams
Bruce Schneier talking about Data Mining to Detect Pump-and-Dump Scams.
Akismet 40,000th Spam Comment
On May 1st, I zapped my 30,000th comment spam. Yesterday was the 40,000th. Here’s a chart of the count, recorded daily. And here’s the daily rate, with a peak since May 8th (the end of the last storm) at 160 on June 6th, and a low of one on May 19th.
HELO {bot_hostname}
This morning I received a string of bot spam attempts from some idiot spammer using the following as his HELO command (yes, including the braces): HELO {bot_hostname} Luckily Postfix rejected the conversation immediately.
eHealthInsurance.com Spam
Be careful if using eHealthInsurance.com. They do not honor unsubscribe requests from their mailings. I’d suggest using a unique email address so you can disable it after you’ve used their services. I’ve emailed their privacy office asking about this. If a week goes by, I’ll escalate to TRUSTe. I originally signed up with them on […]