Before you dive into your bird and stuffing and cranberry and such, here's a little relish tray with some nice, fresh, gelatin-laden spam to really stir the gratitude pot. And none of that "I've gone vegan" nonsense.
Just yesterday, this note got caught in my personal email's "Suspicious" file:
Hey, some jerk has posted your pictures (u understand what kind of pictures are there) and sent a link of them to all ur friends. I have already replied back. Said, that he is an idiot. See the link:
http://www.DisabledLinkHere.SomeDomain
Cheryl Parrish
Curiosity and experience got the better of me -- some weasel on LinkedIn, after all, had grabbed my photo and was masquerading as me a few months ago. So I clicked on crafty little Cheryl Parrish's link, only to have this pop up on my browser:
Reported Web Forgery!
This web site at http://www.DisabledLinkHere.SomeDomain has been reported as a web forgery and has been blocked based on your security preferences.
Web forgeries are designed to trick you into revealing personal or financial information by imitating sources you may trust.
Entering any information on this web page may result in identity theft or other fraud.
Get me out of here!
Why was this site blocked?
Ignore this warning
This was both gratifying and disappointing at the same time; gratifying, in that my ISP was being proactive in keeping me from doing even more unwise clicking, but disappointing too since I've railed and bloviated often here about the need for ISPs to get more actively involved in blocking or filtering this sort of malicious content.
Guess my security righteousness will need to find a new target.
There's other encouraging news from the anti-spam front. Alan M. Ralsky, the so-called Godfather of Spam, and four others were sentenced to prison for violating fraud laws and the CAN-SPAM Act. And the South Korean Communications Commission reduced by half the volume of text messages that can be sent by users from their mobile phones (from 1,000 down to 500 messages).
I'm not exactly whooping in celebration here, since these efforts will likely result in a small dent in spam volume, which as of October 2009, still accounted for 88.1 percent of all email traffic, up from last year's 82 percent. But it's a start, and a commendable one in my book, at least, that ISPs are no longer sitting back with the "Hey, we're just the conduit through which the garbage flows" argument.
And in that spirit of gratitude, the staff of Internet Evolution wishes you and yours a safe, rich, and fulfilling day of thanks on Thursday, wherever you are or what your country of origin may be. Our blog posting schedule will be a little lighter the next few days, but please click back our way when you can't face another round of leftovers or NCAA highlights.
This blog is part of Internet Evolution's Security Clan, which examines the future of Internet security and the changing nature of risks and vulnerabilities. To join the Security Clan,register here.
It is a sad state when we (you for this example) as a society fear spam so much that it is seen as a monumental exhibition of bravery or stupidity to click on a link. In the end it is just a website and you should only fear clicking on a site if you don't take the advice provided by the smart contributors on IE on how to protect yourself and your computer.
"maybe someday my pipedream will come true and the percentage of spam will be in the single digits."
I wish your dream would become true. But the amazing thing with my account is that some of my legitimate messages use to get lost into the spam bin. I don't if you've ever had this kind problem with yahoo account. Can somebody tell me what I can do about that?
its good to see at least one ISP doing something about the spam...I get those emails all the time and just click delete....its so annopying the amount of SPAM out there.....maybe someday my pipedream will come true and the percentage of spam will be in the single digits.
Its good to know that they finally got Alan Ralsky;But isnt the notorious-Canadian Pharmacy now the worldwide leader in SPAM? and I believe that they originate primarily in Russia.So how about getting Tighter Security on Russian ISPs??
I stopped clicking on those SPAM/suspicious messages long back....
I understand to urge, but what were you thinking when you responded to "Cheryl Parrish"? I got that same email and thought, who would take tat bait? Now I know. Be safe.
I'm comforted to know that I'm not the only one who falls for things like this. It was only a few months ago that I clicked a link in an AIM message asking if someone could use a picture of me on a Website... sadly, there was no picture to be found.
Auntie NoNo ,What is your secret to limit the amount of spams you receive. I use to receive tons of them and the annoying thing is that some of my legitimate mails get lost in the spams bins.
I'm with Auntie NoNo on this one! You must like to live life dangerously. I'm afraid to click on anything anymore. Of course, it could be the heightened sense of paranoia that I have developed from particpating in this site. LOL!
I hope everyone enjoys the tofurkey, real turkey, turducken, or Spam (for those in Hawaii) tomorrow. May the food be hot, the beverages cold, and the waistbands loose. Enjoy the season!
Thanks, Auntie... count your blessings your spam quotient is as low as it is. And here's to insane families everywhere, carnivorous and non-carnivorous!
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