CNet: According to the Spamhaus Project--a U.K.-based antispam compiler of blacklists that block 8 billion messages a day--a new piece of malicious software has been created that takes over a PC. This "zombie" computer is then used to send spam via the mail server of that PC's Internet service provider.

http://www.robhyndman.com/2005/02/04/spam-levels-set-to-explode/

About: The SplogSpot API enables you to integrate the power of SplogSpot database in your custom application. It provides a simple interface that you can query and the result is returned in the XML format.

http://splogspot.com/pages/api_help

Randy: Awesome!

I report any splogs with Adsense ads to Google. I do this by clicking on the Ads by Goooogle link in the offending ad unit and filling out the form. Google has responded by email with a better way of reporting Adsense splogs.

Google Adsense Team: In the future, to allow us to investigate any issues more efficiently, you can email our specialists directly at adsense-abuse@google.com.

TechWeb: Spam's slice of the e-mail pie has dropped by 12 percent so far this year, indicating that defensive strategies and technologies, and perhaps high-profile prosecutions of big-time spammers are having an affect.

http://www.techweb.com/wire/security/171100180

Randy: Hurray! We're striking back.

Neebs: I stumbled over to the spam folder and found this.  Don’t ever give me your address.

1. Write an angry letter.
2. Find out what they’re place looks like on googlemaps.
3. Egg the place.
4. Go and talk to the manager.
5. Accidentally trip on the power switch for the servers on the way out.

And that folks is how i bullied the spam companies into never sending me spam ever again.

http://neebstuts.blogsome.com/2005/09/23/how-to-get-back-at-spam/

OlegDulin.com reader:

1. You can’t find them.
2. Even if you do they don’t care.
3. Paying fines is OK by them. They still make money.
4. Spam fax laws have just been relaxed, so your senators and congressmen are going the other way on this issue.

That leaves two possibilities. Call Bill O’Reiley or JOIN THE JIHAD! In anticipatin of a large response, I have created a G-Mail account, SPAMJIHAD@GMAIL.COM. If you want to be involved in solving the problem, the forward me your contact infomration.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/OlegDulin?m=196

Viruslist.com: Korean distributives for mozilla and thunderbird for linux turned out to be infected - mozilla-installer-bin from mozilla-1.7.6.ko-KR.linux-i686.installer.tar.gz and mozilla-xremote-client from thunderbird-1.0.2.tar.gz were infected with Virus.Linux.RST.b

http://www.viruslist.com/en/weblog?calendar=2005-09

Tuscon Citizen: An Arizona appellate court ruled Tuesday that a 1991 federal law's ban against using autodialers to call cell phones applies to sending e-mail text messages with unsolicited advertisements - a technology not in vogue when the law was enacted.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/breaking/092005cellphone_spam.php

Mailinator: This map shows (in semi-realtime) ip addresses that are currently sending the most spam to Mailinator.

http://mailinator.com/mailinator/map.html

WeblogEmpire: Affective immediately, all affiliate promotions for the Adsense-Secrets program from Joel Comm across Weblog Empire blogs has ceased. [cut] His association and business dealings with [spam blog promoter] Rick Butts for profit leave us with no alternative but to withdraw all mention or promotion of his products.

http://weblogempire.com/2005/09/16/statement-regarding-adsense-secrets/

Google: If your Google search returns a result that you suspect is spam, please let us know using this form.

http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html

Niall Kennedy: Technorati is organizing the second Web Spam Summit taking place next week at Google's headquarters in Mountain View. [cut] If you or another member of your team would like to attend please send a prompt reply.

http://www.technorati.com/weblog/2005/09/47.html

Q: How do you report a splog with Adsense to Google?

Randy: When you find a splog (a SPAM blog) that has Adsense on it, then...

1. Click on Ads by Goooooogle.
2. Fill out the popup form (the form is not always the same).
3. Click Submit.
4. Pretend I just thanked you.

John August: As a fairly-frequent commenter on other people’s blogs, I know how frustrating it can be when I’ve spent a few minutes working on the perfect riposte, only to have it disappear somewhere in the void.

http://johnaugust.com/archives/2005/hey-why-didnt-my-comment-get-posted

Randy: The punishment for not implementing a comment SPAM filter that works.

TechWeb: America Online played Robin Hood on Thursday, delivering more than $85,000 in cash and gold bars, as well as the keys to a Hummer H2, to 53-year-old welder Marc Daniels. The company collected the money and goods as part of a settlement in a multi-million dollar spam lawsuit. In August, more than 1 million people entered AOL's Spammer's Gold Sweepstakes for a shot at the prize.

I'm checking my inbound links and I came across a Blogspot blog and clicked on it. Then it hit me. Where did all the blogspot splog inbound links go? This blogspot inbound link isn't SPAM. It's not a splog. It's legit. I started looking around and all those Blogspot splogs are 404. What happened? Some investigation and I came across a lot of blogs like this one. This splog was using Adsense to monetize itself and Google has cut them off.

Three cheers for Google! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!

...has making the following two sentences very common across the Web.

"You need to be registered to comment on this site."

"Comments (0)"

If I was a young entrepreneur, looking for my next big thing, then I'd be looking for solutions to this problem. I'm certain Google or Six Apart would pay for anonymous comments without the comment SPAM. For that matter, why don't Google or Six Apart do something that works and make it available to all?

Santa Cruz Sentinel: The hurricane has set off the beginning stages of bogus charity e-mails, "phishing" and other scams to exploit Americans’ emotional response to the tragedy.

Susan Tenby: Rest assured that there are steps you can take to reduce the amount of junk flooding your inbox.

1. Never, ever reply to a spam message.
2. Don’t click any links in a spam e-mail.
3. Disguise your e-mail addy.
4. Don’t forward an e-mail from someone you don’t know to a list of people.
5. If you have your own domain, don't use your regular e-mail address when you register at Web sites.
6. Create disposable e-mail addresses.
7. Don’t use your home or business e-mail address when you register on a Web site or in a group.
8. Before you join a list , make sure the list owner or Web master will not sell your address.
9. Preview your messages before you open them.
10. View a message's headers to see if a sender's e-mail address is valid.
11. Don't use Hotmail/AOL/MSN as your primary mail provider.
12. Use complicated e-mail addresses.
13. Use a spam filter.
14. If you work in an office, forward spam to your IT department so they can adjust the filters.
15. Read all your messages as text.
16. Use a Web-posting form on your Web site to allow users to contact you.
17. Make sure your privacy settings are set so you don't receive marketing from other sites in your AOL and Yahoo profiles.
18. Never use your e-mail address as your screen name in chat rooms.
19. Throw in a little HTML or spacing that is undetectable to crawlers , when posting your e-mail address on a Web site.
20. Don’t give your real address to a Web site for registration.

http://www.techsoup.org/howto/articles/internet/page1586.cfm

Randy: I regularly violate all 20. That might account for the 11 thousand SPAM I get monthly.

The Detroit News: Called 2search, the program secretly hijacks some Google searches by presenting fake results in the midst of legitimate ones. Because the pages shown look identical to regular Google results, most victims would have no clue anything is amiss.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/technology/0509/03/tech-302459.htm

Island Dave: Antisplog.net is a barebone product at current (it just launched days ago), and honestly, I'm not completely clear on what it does. I've used both the blog pointer mentioned here, and gotten it to return 1s and 0s a few times, as well as the bookmarklet, and gotten fairly accurate reads on the site's I've reported.

Randy: And they have a blog. Subscribed.

Rick: Some of you may have noticed some VERY questionable web sites listed on the front page of my web site. These web sites are located on the right under "Recent Referers" and "Top Referers". Recently these sites have covered such topics as online poker, porn, rape videos, various sites selling prescription drugs, etc. I did NOT place these links on my site! These links are Referer Spam. Basically, spammers visit my site, and fake the information the browser sends to make it look like they are coming from these very questionable web sites, when they are not. Whenever a person views a web site, their browser sends a link to the web page that they were viewing when they navigated to your web site. This is known as the Referer. It's supposed to let you know who is linking to your web site. The blog software I use, logs and displays this information automatically. This has the side effect of allowing spammers to essentially insert links to their web sites on my web site without my permission!

http://ekle.us/index.php?title=referer_spam_again&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Randy: The best way to combat referrer SPAM is to avoid publishing your referrers. I tried commenting on this person's blog, but couldn't get past the SPAM filter. Funny, it's so easy for SPAMmers to get listed on the blog, but so difficult for me.

BusinessWorld: 4's a Fortune had made unsolicited calls to mobile phones from landlines but hung up before the calls were answered, leaving a "missed call" notification on the phone. The unwitting recipients then rang the missed number and were directed to call a premium rate line which related to a quiz game.

http://www.businessworld.ie/livenews.htm?a=1247085;s=rollingnews.htm