Tag: Spam filtering

degunking your gunk

New email users and those overwhelmed by the size of their inboxes will find this book useful.

Degunking Your Email, Spam, and Viruses by Jeff Duntemann

Duntemann is a co-founder of Paraglyph Press, the publisher of this how-to computer book. His previous publications include Degunking Windows (Paraglyph) and Assembly Language Step-by-Step (Wiley), and he has been writing technical books for the geeks and the plebes for many years. I was immediately drawn to the accessible, common language used in the book. Although, I did find it difficult that he tends to use some non-standard terms several times before actually defining them (ie mailbase).

Continue reading “degunking your gunk”

spam poetry

Andrei Codrescu on spam poetry.

I am always pleased to hear Andrei Codrescu‘s commentaries on NPR, and last night’s piece on “spam poetry” was no exception. I have been wondering about those bizarre messages that get filtered to my Held Mail folder. My email provider, SpamCop, uses the SpamAssasin software along with other spam filtering programs to keep my inbox clean.

filtering

The recent Supreme Court decition on CIPA regarding filtering in libraries is still getting some media attention. One public library director in Massachusetts had a few pointed comments: “Who is deciding what’s pornographic. Who’s decision is this? Some Midwestern software developer who may be homophobic? What I can’t stand is hate groups. Why are their … Continue reading “filtering”

The recent Supreme Court decition on CIPA regarding filtering in libraries is still getting some media attention. One public library director in Massachusetts had a few pointed comments:

“Who is deciding what’s pornographic. Who’s decision is this? Some Midwestern software developer who may be homophobic? What I can’t stand is hate groups. Why are their standards being imposed on my East Coast community?”

and

Having to pay for the filters in a time when public libraries are losing money for books and staff is what really burns, said Gilley. Adding insult to injury, more affluent communities who don’t rely on every penny the government throws out, may not have to comply with the filtering ruling, she said.

ebay fraud warning

Apparently, this isn’t the first time some bozo has attempted to obtain username/password combinations from unsuspecting victims, but this morning’s email was the first one of these that I have received. I wisely checked with eBay after noticing that the mailing headers on this message looked a little odd: Received: from amiras-station6.minisat.ro (HELO eatmydick2000) (eatmydick2000@80.96.134.37 … Continue reading “ebay fraud warning”

Apparently, this isn’t the first time some bozo has attempted to obtain username/password combinations from unsuspecting victims, but this morning’s email was the first one of these that I have received. I wisely checked with eBay after noticing that the mailing headers on this message looked a little odd:

Received: from amiras-station6.minisat.ro (HELO eatmydick2000) (eatmydick2000@80.96.134.37 with login) by smtp.mail.vip.sc5.yahoo.com with SMTP; 29 Jul 2003 23:37:18 -0000

Never, never, never, never assume that just because the visible From address looks valid and the body of the email looks valid that any email requesting your username/password combination for anything is legitimate. Always do your homework before giving that information to anyone. Thank you. This message brought to you by your local friendly cybrarian.

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