Date: 01/18/07 (Java Web)    Keywords: spam

Yesterday I talked about developing a comment spam prevention plugin with zero false positives. I am currently using it on all of our blogs. Today I want to talk briefly about its origin and goals. But first here are the stats from my Simple Thoughts blog: 1095 spam comments were blocked by Angsuman’s Comment Guard plugin [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/on-comment-guard-wordpress-comment-spam-prevention-plugin/

Date: 01/22/07 (Security)    Keywords: spam

Notorious spammer used phished MySpace accounts to send mass mailings to members; site seeks monetary damages and injunction.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6152230.html

Date: 01/23/07 (Java Web)    Keywords: spam

MySpace has filed suit against notorious spammer and self-proclaimed “spam king” Scott Richter and alleged cohorts for sending what could become known as MySpam. Yesterday MySpace filed a complaint in a District Court in Central District of California, USA demanding a jury trial against Richter’s for sending spam messages disguised as communications from members to [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/myspace-sues-spam-king-scott-richter-for-sending-myspam/

Date: 01/29/07 (Computer Help)    Keywords: spam

Im in need of a few papers published that are available in http://www.sciencedirect.com and a couple of IEEE transactions..
for my project/...
I do not have access to the sites..Iam able to get only the abstracts...
. Some of your universities might provide free access to these sites to you in your library or otherwise in ur LAN..

Can any of you download the papers I require if I provide you with the links...

This is a serious request and not a spam..

Caroline

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/740680.html

Date: 02/02/07 (Java Web)    Keywords: spam

I am happy to announce the release of Comment Guard Plugin (0.2 Beta) for beta testing1. Comment Guard plugin (for WordPress) unobtrusively prevents robotic spam2 (which accounts of over 99% of your spam) without causing any problem for humans. Humans will not feel any difference at all. Additionally it also stops cold certain well-known human spamming3 techniques [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/wordpress-comment-spam-protection-comment-guard-plugin-beta-release/

Date: 02/09/07 (Mozilla)    Keywords: spam

Does anyone know how to get Okopipi to work in Thunderbird? I have it installed, but it does not create any buttons or anything, also when I try to forward spam to Knujon, I get an error message saying that I can not forward email or there was an error (something of the sort). Anyone else have these problems?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/mozilla/383747.html

Date: 02/22/07 (IT Professionals)    Keywords: software, virus, antivirus, spam

I'm looking for anti-malware solutions (antivirus, antispam, etc) which are 100% compatible with Exchange Server 2007.

So far I haven't found any vendors that fit my requirements. Everybody says they're completely compatible with 2003, but they simply don't say anything about 2007.

I'm interested primarily in an appliance (e.g., Barracuda's Spam Firewalls), but am also considering software solutions which go on the Exchange server itself.

Can anyone offer suggestions?

Right now I'm faced with setting up a new Exchange Server 2003 organization and then upgrading to 2007 when the anti-malware offerings become a bit more mature. I'd prefer to avoid that and go straight to 2007 if I could.

(x-posted)

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/53107.html

Date: 02/26/07 (WebDesign)    Keywords: spam

I apologize if there's a better place to ask this, but I'm at my wit's end.

I have a pretty basic Movable Type blog on my domain, and for the most part, it works like a dream. But I get an inordinate amount of TrackBack spam. MT filters out a huge amount of spam, both comment spam and TrackBack spam, but there's one IP address that has been plaguing me with TrackBack spam for two or more years. If I'm diligent about adding the domain names it uses to the SpamLookup Keyword Filter, I can nip most of it in the bud, but it's a full-time job keeping the addresses just from this one IP address (including "theproshops.org", "bestdrugshop.org", "hqcasino.org", "cell-phones-world.org", etc. — it changes every week or so) updated in the filter. So I have a few questions:

1. Is there any way to block an IP address from commenting or TrackBacking? If so, how?
2. Why is this IP address so effective at circumventing my filters? The sheer volume? The filters, I've noticed, filter out hundreds of messages from this address, but I nonetheless see a dozen or two a week get through if I don't keep the filters updated. Is there any way to better train my filters?
3. What can I do about this repeat offender? Why is this address still in business after two or more years? I've followed the IP trace to look for someone to whom I could complain, but the lowest recognizable authority is telia.net?

The address, if anyone cares, is 83.219.129.118. The IP trace:

Tracing route to kus.info39.com [83.219.129.118]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

[snipped for privacy]
 12    59 ms   131 ms   115 ms  pxr00asm-1-0-0.bellsouth.net [65.83.236.4]
 13    61 ms    60 ms    61 ms  so-4-3-0.gar1.Atlanta1.Level3.net [4.78.212.101]

 14   117 ms   119 ms    62 ms  ae-1-53.bbr1.Atlanta1.Level3.net [4.68.103.65]
 15   145 ms   146 ms   145 ms  as-0-0.bbr1.London1.Level3.net [4.68.128.109]
 16   147 ms   191 ms   151 ms  ae-12-55.car2.London1.Level3.net [4.68.116.144]

 17     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 18   149 ms   150 ms   146 ms  ldn-bb1-link.telia.net [80.91.251.18]
 19   210 ms   161 ms   161 ms  hbg-bb1-link.telia.net [80.91.249.11]
 20   172 ms   176 ms   171 ms  s-bb1-link.telia.net [80.91.249.221]
 21   173 ms   196 ms   173 ms  s-b3-link.telia.net [213.248.66.2]
 22   179 ms   180 ms   174 ms  s-fre-i2-link.telia.net [213.248.101.10]
 23   241 ms   186 ms   189 ms  dialog-110639-s-fre-i2.c.telia.net [213.248.101.
78]
 24     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 25   197 ms   245 ms   196 ms  kus.info39.com [83.219.129.118]

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/webdesign/1224730.html

Date: 03/07/07 (Security)    Keywords: spam

"Offensive" or "inappropriate" spam has been steadily declining, and in February only constituted 3 percent of junk mail, Symantec says.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6164992.html

Date: 03/30/07 (Java Web)    Keywords: spam

I have just started downloading my email and guess what - I have 4538 email messages in queue, most of them obviously spam as even Bill Gates isn’t that popular. Unfortunately my new stopgap setup doesn’t have a bayesian filter setup so I will have to filter them manually. Please bear with me as I [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/downloading-1-of-4538-mail-messages/

Date: 03/30/07 (Web Technology)    Keywords: spam

With no real cure for search engine spam in play, educating legitimate marketers is key.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6172199.html

Date: 03/30/07 (Security)    Keywords: spam

Attackers take advantage of vulnerability in Windows animated cursor. Also: Trojan spam dupes users into thinking it's an IE 7 beta.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6172208.html

Date: 04/16/07 (IT Professionals)    Keywords: asp, security, spyware, spam, microsoft

Debate the Future at the 17th annual Computers Freedom and Privacy
Conference, 1-4 May 2007 at the Hilton Bonaventure Hotel in
Montreal, Quebec. WWW.CFP2007.ORG

CFP is the conference where the inventors and innovators on the Internet
met the industry, the regulators, and the creative community to talk about
the new freedoms the net brought. Free speech, censorship, filtering
spam, crypto controls, business security, dataveillance, were all meat
for the all-night debates that took place at this annual gathering.

There has never been a greater need to talk about these issues. This
year's agenda is packed with plenaries and breakout sessions, and Birds
of a Feather sessions that look at all aspects of the growing threats
and opportunities for autonomy in cyberspace.

Featured Speakers

* Whitfield Diffie Sun Microsystems
* Ron Rivest MIT
* Simon Davies Privacy International
* Michael Geist University of Ottawa
* Bruce Schneier BT Counterpane
* Kim Cameron Microsoft

* 1 full day workshop * 8 half day tutorials * Topics include: * ID
Management * Digital Divide * Surveillance * Stalking * Wiretap * War
on drugs * Digital Millenium Copyright Act * Charter rights * RFIDs *
Spyware * No Fly lists * Traffic analysis * Airline Passenger Data *
Health Information * Censorship * Data Retention * Forensics * Security
Information Management

All this and lots more! Watch the program at www.cfp2007.org

Simultaneous Translation throughout plenary sessions

*Discounts for Students and ACM Members*

Stephanie Perrin
Chair CFP2007
forge@ca.inter.net

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/56274.html

Date: 04/27/07 (WebDesign)    Keywords: web, spam, google, ebay

Greetings all!

It's been awhile since I was asked / contracted to work on a website, and as I'm brushing up on my skills I'm wondering if any new techniques had come about for improving website rankings.

I'm well aware of paying for a service to submit them, or the various spamming of your site or hiding hidden keywords on your pages to trick the engines. I know, for example, google has their own proprietary spidering system that is kept under wraps, so no one really knows how to optimize for it.

In the past, I simply had the basic meta keywords and meta description in the header of each page, then manually submitted the main site page to the search engines.

However, I'm finding some newer (larger) sites don't have any meta tags in their header at all!

For example, ebay.com has meta keyword tags, wikipedia.com does not.

I was curious what techniques you used to optimize and boost rankings.

Thanks all!

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/webdesign/1251056.html

Date: 05/22/07 (Java Web)    Keywords: spam

In very rare cases I have had complaints when our clients haven’t received their plugin within one business day. In all of them the problem was because my email containing the plugin was being flagged as spam by their email filters. So if you haven’t received your plugin in time please take the following steps: 1. [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/when-you-dont-receive-your-translator-plugin-in-time/

Date: 05/24/07 (Security)    Keywords: spam

The ReCaptcha service turns annoying spam-avoidance chores into a productive project to digitize books.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6186430.html

Date: 05/31/07 (Java Web)    Keywords: spam

Doug Karr, product manager for a “permission-based email service provider” (permission spam?) lays down three interesting rules for understanding differences of race, religion, politics, sex and bigotry: 1. He will never understand others; so he tries to respect things that he doesn’t understand. 2. Everyone is different and unique. and 3. Double standards are part [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/understanding-race-religion-politics-sex-bigotry/

Date: 06/13/07 (HTML Help)    Keywords: spam

I have a fanlisting and I need a code to place on the page to prevent bots from picking up the email addresses  and prevent spamming.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/htmlhelp/2401857.html

Date: 06/29/07 (Computer Help)    Keywords: software, security, virus, spam

Also posted in computerhelp

I am at my wits end here, I hope you guys can help. I am running a Vista system that is about 3 months old. My cable internet provider hasn't bothered to upgrade their security suite to be Vista compatible but pointed me to free trials I could use until they do.

After exhausting two free trials I made the HUGE mistake of trying CA's Internet Security Suite 2007. It has been nothing but a nightmare since I installed it. Causing blue screen o' doom errors many times a day. I went out today and purchased Micro Trend PC-cillin Internet Security software today, because it was one of the trials I tried and I like the way it works.

I went in to try and uninstall the CA program it uninstalled the anti-virus, spam blocker and anti-phishing components bet then it proceeded to tell me that I do not have enough privileges to install or uninstall Personal Firewall and to try logging in as an administrator. I am the only profile on this machine which by default makes me an administrator, and just to be sure I went in and checked, yep, I'm an admin. However, that doesn't solve the problem of how to get this crappy program the hell off of my computer so I can actually have a suite that is effective and doesn't cause blue screen errors.

I went to their support site, all of their "knowledge base" articles time out when I try to open them and they aren't responding to my email inquiry, but somehow I don't think I will be at the top of their list of people to get back to quickly since I pretty much told them I am getting rid of their software and using a competitors suite. Any help on how to manually purge my system of this beast or whatever, as long as it is no longer on my system would be greatly greatly appreciated.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/793535.html

Date: 06/30/07 (Mozilla)    Keywords: web, linux, spam

I recently switched from XP to Ubuntu Linux, and with it switched from IE7 and Windows Live Mail Desktop to Firefox and Thunderbird. Firefox is fine, but I am not exactly impressed with Thunderbird so far.

My main email accounts are a pop3 one and a Hotmail account, so I downloaded the Webmail extension for Thunderbird, and it appears to be working fine, even if actually getting the right version of Thunderbird for it was a complete pain in the neck. (To explain, Webmail uses TB version 2, and Ubuntu's repositories only had 1.5.12. If you download the new version from Mozilla, it doesn't overwrite the older version despite what Mozilla says - it will run alongside it, ignoring all of your settings and refusing to import mail, so I had to do that manually.) My biggest problem with it at the moment is the way it deals with spam emails. I've been training it by giving it plenty of junk daily for the last three or so weeks, but it's only catching perhaps 60% of it, and at the same time is catching some legitimate emails. These aren't clever spams it's missing; the one I just marked as spam and moved was entitled "Would you like to show your partner/s your sexual strength and power?". Additionally, when it does catch it, if it's sent to my pop3 account it doesn't move it to the Junk folder like it's set up to. It moves junk from Hotmail easily, though.

Is there any way I can make it better, short of writing message filters myself to move things to Junk automatically? On Windows, WLM caught about 95% of spam and didn't keep putting real emails in Junk, and given how much praise there is for Thunderbird's spam filters I didn't expect them to be this unreliable. I've also found that I can't reply to Livejournal comments via Thunderbird, but seem to remember this was already a problem ages ago when I tried using Thunderbird for Windows, so I assume there isn't a workaround?

Firefox has been a much easier switch, but there are two features I'm missing from IE7. Is there any way to do the following?
- set it up to prompt you on a per-domain basis to accept/reject cookies - it seems as if I can't do it from a dialog when I visit new sites like I did with IE, and have to produce a list of either blocked or allowed sites manually. Or, can I import IE's list of domains to reject cookies from? I don't want to have to keep clearing cookies manually.
- make new tabs open my homepage by default rather than a blank page.

Thanks for any help you can give me :)

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/mozilla/391017.html