March 2008 Archives

The operators of the Storm Worm are known for continually revising the messages that they send out to reflect current events, holidays, and so on. I've just seen what looks like a new Storm Worm message with the subject "All Fools' Day". When you think about it, that's rather appropriate.

I'd like to give a quick shout-out or tip-of-the-hat or whatever to Peru sin Spam ('Peru without spam'), which is a site with similar goals and methods to ours. As well as covering general spam news, they have a list of Peruvian companies that send spam. Their list includes a number of the pests currently filling my inbox with their junk, including Thaisbor S.A.C., Avance Empresarial, Piramide Consultores, and Educe Capacitaciones, to name only a few (and not forgetting our old friends at Il Forno).

It's not clear how effective the naming-and-shaming policy operated by both Spamnation and Peru sin Spam actually is. Some of the companies involved — particularly the ones offering 'management seminars', who are the worst offenders in terms of spam generated — seem fairly sleazy. Still, it's nice to see someone making the effort and their site is a useful resource.

One of the familiar 'arguments' put forward by spammers trying to defend the indefensible is "It's just one message." (of course, it never is 'just one', but leave that aside for the moment). The usual response is to ask reasonably what would happen if every business in the world felt entitled to send 'just one message'. Of course that could never happen ... or could it?