UCLA has a software program named Quarantine that revokes Internet access from users the system flags as a copyright violator. Quarantine uses the Automated Copyright Notice System developed by Universal Studios to identify and notify offenders. Given the close proximity of life in a dormitory asset swapping is not uncommon. The computer network is just an an easier method than sneaker net for the exchange of goods. UCLA was an investor in Napster….
Category Archives: Bad news
Access to zombie PCs for sale
Byron Acohido and Jon Swartz of USA Today wrote an article about the use of zombie machines to send mass e-mails. They found the asking price for use of a network of 20,000 zombie computers to be $2,000 to $3,000. (via Slashdot)…
MailFrontier tests phishing
MailFrontier showed 1,000 consumers examples of phishing e-mails as well as legitimate e-mails. The respondents fell for the phishing message 28 percent of the time. Take the sample quiz and see how you score. (via Slashdot) “About 20 percent of the Web sites devoted to stealing information are hosted in South Korea; another 16 percent are in China, and 7 percent are in Taiwan.”…
NY Times: When Software Fails to Stop Spam, It’s Time to Bring In the Detectives
Monday’s New York Times article about Microsoft’s fight against junk e-mail senders. I receive over 500 spam messages a day and would love to do something to stop the senders. “Microsoft’s two-year-old digital integrity unit – which also fights online fraud, identity theft and spyware – employs more than 100 people around the world and has an annual budget of more than $10 million.” “In the last 15 months, Microsoft has filed 53 civil cases against spammers.”…
Sam Ruby on Wiki spam
Sam Ruby has observed Wiki spammers reaching his sites through Google crawls. The WikiSpam has begun….