[photopress:spam.gif,full,alignright]There are those who would argue that too much is made about the problem of spam. In any half way decent email program it is very easy to set up filters. And, it could be argued, that as it is rarely over 5k in size it does not clog up anything. But anti-spam people can be quite rabid on the subject and are no doubt involved in the launch of a new anti spam initiative.
(Do not confuse spam with viruses which are rotten and evil and worse things I could mention. You CAN get viruses through spam but not always and not even frequently. Spam is not a virus but it can contain a virus.)
This new move against spam is an initiative of the Internet Society of China and features both a blacklist and a whitelist. Li Hong, deputy secretary general of the Internet Society of China, said that ten websites including Sina.com, Netease, Tom.com, 263, net.cn, Sohu.com and Yahoo.com have been connected to the blacklist so they can have constant updates to block unwanted bulk email.
(Note this is not always without problems. Perfectly ordinary mail has been black-listed for the daftest reasons. And, yes, it has happened more than once to the writer who may be somewhat biased because of this.)
The term spam possibly comes from a Spam sketch in the British BBC television comedy series, Monty Python’s Flying Circus. This has a small restaurant in which every item on the menu includes Spam canned meat, and a chorus of Vikings drowning out all conversation with a song consisting almost entirely of the word ‘Spam’. This is the generally accepted origin but there are those who simply cannot see any connection between the two and think those who can have mental problems.
But I digress.
In the past year, over 100,000 IP addresses have been blacklisted. The ISC website will gradually open to the public and businesses to accelerate anti-spam efforts domestically and internationally.
Spamhaus, the world’s largest anti-spam organization, currently ranks China second from which spam originates. It has yet to catch up with the United States as the top location for spam and, in fact, is very nearly pipped to second place by Poland.
A representative from Spamhaus in China says the organization hopes to work more closely with the ISC to help monitor spammers and eradicate phishing and other exploits that may harm Internet users.
Phishing is an activity with a criminal end in mind. Spamming is an activity normally with a commercial gain in mind. There is a difference although, of course, spam can be used for a phishing expedition.
Source: Jongo News