OT: RE: [Lowfer] spamming

Wed, 7 Jan 2004 17:44:44 -0500

Just a thought from a guy who spent the last 22 years doing computer
security before becoming a happy innkeeper:

> I never respond to it by asking it to stop and after a while
> the Whoever figure  I am a dead letter drop or whatever
> and go on to others

This is true. Not as true as it used to be but it still works. If you reply
to the "remove me" address for MOST of these ads it actually marks you as an
active address and keeps you active with everyone they share addresses with.

Also... Most people don't realize it but there are several ways that these
advertisers can tell that you have looked at their ad. This is true for
plain text but it is even easier if the mail was sent using HTML. And I am
not just talking about "read receipts" although they should be disabled
also.

My advice: turn any feature in your mail reader that automatically displays
HTML as a page. This closes most of the loopholes. Then go to yahoo (or
wherever) and tell the list servers that you want your notices sent plain
text.

Feel free to contact me off-line if you would like to learn all the
different ways I can tell if you read my message without you doing a thing.
I can even learn a lot about your system and how you use it, what apps are
installed, etc.

Then there is the whole topic of "aggregation." This is the REAL scary stuff
that nobody talks about but there are companies like Inktomi that follow you
around the web (sometimes with the cooperation of your ISP but it is not
required) and, using statistics and some interesting IP based tools can
paint a very clear picture of you, your finances and interests.

To paraphrase the late Victor Kiam: I'm so scared, I left the company.

Mike
wm1ke
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of [email protected]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 4:35 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [Lowfer] spamming
>
>
>
>
> It is interesting that I get almost no Spam
> once and awhile I get info on parts enlargement
> but no more that several times a week ,, on a
> bad week.
>
> I never respond to it by asking it to stop and after a while
> the Whoever figure  I am a dead letter drop or whatever
> and go on to others
>
> I just went DSL ,, stayed with Juno which works OK on DSL
> and use I net exp to do other things. So far I use My Juno Addr
> when Net Shopping and have had no problems
>
> I dont use HTML ( I think ) and have had no problems
>
> SCARES THE HECK OUT OF ME !
>
> Bob  K3DJC
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