[GENERAL_SMILEY]

So I got spammed this morning, nothing particularly special about that I'm sure you all agree, however today I was irritated enough to tap in the originating IP address (65.71.245.16* - to protect his/her privacy ) into the connect to dialogue, as a Samba connection - promptly I had the option to login to the computer. Mildly interesting, not sure what I could do, so I opened up the terminal, looked up SMBCLIENT, then tried smbclient -L (looked like it might list domains/shares) 65.71.245.16*, hit return when it asked for a password (natch) and got this:

Sharename Type Comment
--------- ---- -------
Error returning browse list: NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED

Server Comment
--------- -------
AYOUB1

Workgroup Master
--------- -------
AYOUB AYOUB1
MSHOME AYOUB2

I know very little terminal, and even less about Windows systems (can't remember where but it said it was win2k), what could you do from here? Does it accept anon logins, could you remote desktop it if you were so inclined?

I am not planning on doing anything, just an interested observer, so don't panic, my irritation is over, the spammer is safe.

[Zadian]

The main problem with spammers is, that they fake the sender address and normally use proxies and dial up accounts to get online.

So most of the time you will get the proxy IP or a dial up IP as origin of the spam. The dial up IP is probably already used by a completely innocent user that logged in some time after the spammer.

The best way to deal with spammers is to ignore them, use e-mail addresses that aren't that public and to make political pressure to get (effective) laws against spam.

[Diggory Laycock]

http://www.subsume.com/static/WebObj...e/SpamCop.html

[Macola]

Another vote for Spamcop. Ignoring spammers only adds to the problem.

[cybergoober]

In Mail.app I just hit the "Bounce" button...

[[APi]TheMan]

Originally posted by cybergoober:
In Mail.app I just hit the "Bounce" button...

*adds the "Bounce to sender" button to his Mail.app toolbar*

[pumpkinapo]

I use the bounce to sender button also... but at least 90% of the time I get a message back that the e-mail address doesn't exist.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by pumpkinapo:
I use the bounce to sender button also... but at least 90% of the time I get a message back that the e-mail address doesn't exist.

That's because spammers always fake the return address they show in their e-mails. They almost never give a valid address, so that remaining 10% of the time that your bounce messages are actually going through, they're probably only reaching some innocent bystander that the spammers have decided to target by putting his address in the return address field. Often spammers target someone like, for example, the operator of an anti-spam site. They just put his e-mail in the return field, and the onslaught of e-mail from people that clicked the "Reply" button and sent a nasty letter or from people who bounce to sender serves as a DOS attack against his mail server.

If ignoring spam only adds to the problem, bouncing to sender seriously adds to it. Don't do this, people.

[GENERAL_SMILEY]

I'm very disappointed with the lack of vigilante action from MacNN

I, for my sins, use Entourage - didn't see a Spamcop option.

Thanks for the advice, I know the e-mail addresses are fake, but the originating IP from the headers is accurate (barring open relays).

Most of the time this is an ADSL line from Asia, as was pointed out the IP is probably dynamic, so doing anything is redundant (and no doubt illegal) - although I did see something called "SMBDIE", I refuse to speculate on whether this would be an effective tool.

[Moonray]

If you bounce a spam mail back you risk telling the spammer that he hit a live e-mail address and might get more spam or even the honor to get pressed on a CD with working e-mail addresses worth to spam.

Ignoring spammers does *not* add to the problem.

-

[Macola]

Originally posted by Moonray:
If you bounce a spam mail back you risk telling the spammer that he hit a live e-mail address and might get more spam or even the honor to get pressed on a CD with working e-mail addresses worth to spam.

Ignoring spammers does *not* add to the problem.

-

Bouncing spam simply sends it to the address in the Return-Path header. As CharlesS pointed out more than 90% of the time it's fake (or, worse still, it can be forged to be your own address).

You're confusing bouncing with clicking on the "remove" or "unsubscribe" links..something that will be guaranteed to confirm your live address.

<Begin soapbox mode>
And yes, ignoring spam does contribute to the problem. If everyone just hit the "delete" button, spammers would still continue to exist, and their numbers would grow unchecked. Do something about it--report spammers, write to your congressperson, contribute to antispam organizations, whatever you're comfortable doing. Apathy kills.
<End soapbox mode>

[Macola]

Originally posted by GENERAL_SMILEY:


I, for my sins, use Entourage - didn't see a Spamcop option.

Spamcop started out as a web-based service--check it out at http://www.spamcop.net.

[Moonray]

Originally posted by Macola:
Bouncing spam simply sends it to the address in the Return-Path header. As CharlesS pointed out more than 90% of the time it's fake (or, worse still, it can be forged to be your own address).

You're confusing bouncing with clicking on the "remove" or "unsubscribe" links..something that will be guaranteed to confirm your live address.

Ehh no, among these 10% there are some which really exist (some actually want you to e-mail them back), but I agree that these other links are more dangerous.

Originally posted by Macola:
<Begin soapbox mode>
And yes, ignoring spam does contribute to the problem. If everyone just hit the "delete" button, spammers would still continue to exist, and their numbers would grow unchecked. Do something about it--report spammers, write to your congressperson, contribute to antispam organizations, whatever you're comfortable doing. Apathy kills.
<End soapbox mode>

No, if everyone would really ingore spam there was no reason to send spam.
The amount of spam increases steadily and there's no sign that it will be less in a forseeable future. Politicans know about it but they have no solution especially since the spam comes from some other part of the world.
So I see there's no solution to stop spam at the source for now and the near future, I know that people who should be concerned about spam are aware of it.
Now my time has a value for me, and each each minute I have to deal with spam is lost time since I don't believe that cataloging and sorting it by whatever criteria and sending to my congressperson or an antispam organisation a monthly report about the spam I got with some nice statistics would reduce it.
I'd like to help if there was really a way to reduce spam but I don't see there is and until then reducing the time I have to deal with it is the best I can do. It does not add to the problem cause spammers don't care anyway and telling anyone with a public e-mail account that spam is a problem is kinda like beating a dead horse.

-

[Super Glitcher]

I'll delete spam all day long if I could only get away from the telemarketers from Providian...

providian "blah blah ..15minutes... would you be interested?"

me "no"

providian "immediately repeat blah blah ..15minutes"

me "NO"

*repeat until force quit

[Diggory Laycock]

Originally posted by Super Glitcher:
I'll delete spam all day long if I could only get away from the telemarketers from Providian...

providian "blah blah ..15minutes... would you be interested?"

me "no"

providian "immediately repeat blah blah ..15minutes"

me "NO"

*repeat until force quit

http://slashdot.org/articles/03/08/2...tid=158&tid=99

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by Super Glitcher:
I'll delete spam all day long if I could only get away from the telemarketers from Providian...

providian "blah blah ..15minutes... would you be interested?"

me "no"

providian "immediately repeat blah blah ..15minutes"

me "NO"

*repeat until force quit

I especially love the credit card solicitors that just won't give up when you tell them you're not interested. This is, by the way, the real reason to look forward to the new fax capabilities in Panther.

<repost from another thread>

The fax feature is great - being able to use the fax part of the fax modem is one thing I still miss from the OS 9 days. It's great for when stubborn telemarketers call.

"Hello, may I speak to Mr. Charles - uh - how the hell do you pronounce that?!"

"Speaking. May I ask who's calling?"

"This is Jane Doe from $hittybank BastarCard. I'd like to let you know that you are pre-approved for this great card -"

"I'm sorry, I'm not interested."

"But, we have this great deal for you! It's a low APR!"

"I said, I'm not interested."

"But, but, but, it has no annual fee!"

"Hey, I'll tell you what. I'm not interested, but I have a friend here who may be. Would you like to talk to him?"

"Sure! Hello, this is Jane Doe from -"

"SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! CHIRRRRRRRP! CHIRRRRRRRP! CHIRRRRRRRRP!"

Of course, nowadays I can still open ZTerm and type 'ATA' in there and get a good squeal, but it's not the same without the chirps...

[KP*]

A month ago I got a telemarketing call for a credit card on my cell phone!!!. I didn't let her get far enough to find out if it was from Providian or not (one of my cards is with them, so they would be one of only two banks to have my cell number). I was not happy about that, but it's never happened again. I hope it was from Providian and not some random company that got my number, because I do want them to have that number for things that actually affect my account, but just not to sell me crap I don't want.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by KP*:
A month ago I got a telemarketing call for a credit card on my cell phone!!!. I didn't let her get far enough to find out if it was from Providian or not (one of my cards is with them, so they would be one of only two banks to have my cell number). I was not happy about that, but it's never happened again. I hope it was from Providian and not some random company that got my number, because I do want them to have that number for things that actually affect my account, but just not to sell me crap I don't want.

That's so irritating. I hope this isn't the new wave - telemarketers wasting your cell phone minutes by calling and not giving up!