Have you noticed a difference......?

[kerrensimmonds]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7725492.stm

[jhopgood]

Yes, to the extent that I am worried that my e-mail provider has blocked everything. For reasons best known to itself, some correspondence from people on this site has ended up in the potential spam file, which has meant me trawling the folder every day to ensure nothing important was lost.
Now it is empty.

[Jude]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7725492.stm

nope... but I guess my spam wasn't that high to begin with - although for some reason Canadian Tires are hounding me - I have never been to Canada, doubt I ever will, and being in the UK why do I need to know about their tyres (correct spelling!)

Oh well, at least one can trawl through the odds and sods box and make sure... If I am doubtful, then I put it in my "dump it and run" folder (yes it is called that!), then when I have time I go through it....

Sadly we will never be without spam now, what is more annoying is the simple thing of forwarding - if everyone STOPPED forwarding EVERYONES address and we went straight to the reason of the email we would all be so much safer! So, next time you think to forward, do a copy instead, remove everyones email address, and send a "clean" copy on. IT helps to prevent fraud - which like many other things is rife in the USA.

[gma]

Yes, to the extent that I am worried that my e-mail provider has blocked everything.

Me too! I took to copying everything in and out to another email address, my laptop has never seen so little deleting!! I was staggered to read in the article (btw thanx for the post Kerren) that only 1 person responding in 12.5million will generate a profit for the spammers. I always wandered why they bothered!! Can we find the idiot who's responding and tell him/her to stop it do you think ?

[Jude]

Yes, to the extent that I am worried that my e-mail provider has blocked everything.

Me too! I took to copying everything in and out to another email address, my laptop has never seen so little deleting!! I was staggered to read in the article (btw thanx for the post Kerren) that only 1 person responding in 12.5million will generate a profit for the spammers. I always wandered why they bothered!! Can we find the idiot who's responding and tell him/her to stop it do you think ?

There are a well known group of hackers here there and everywhere - some of the best are "bought" by companies to ensure that they are "useful" rather than destructive. The only other way is to return the email to the person who sent it, with the title "unwanted post" or RTS (Return to Sender) I do this with my paper / snail mail now - anything I have no need for that gets thrust into my door I "recycle" Especially if it contains a free postage envelope... If I am inflamed by what it is, then I might write something, but I put a's crap into B's envelope, and vice versa and then walk to the Post Office and post them. I kind of hope that one day someone will get the message that I don't Need/want/have time for all this paper - how come we have so much now? We are on the "super highway" of internet - so why the wretched snail mails that deprive us of trees? Oh dear, I am getting old and cranky with it!

No one gets anything out of spam - be it internet or paper, it still costs, the point of spammers is to bring the internet down to it's knees, something I personally would be somewhat lost if I no longer had it! The odd card at Birthdays and holidays might be nice. but sometimes a phone call is better! (apart from today when I have got a problem with the words in my head coming out of my mouth incorrectly - I am thinking that perhaps a glass of wine MAY help!)

McAffee do a fantastic map of the world which shows where hackers, viruses, worms, trojans, and generic spam comes from - guess where??????????????? Got it yet ?? I was somewhat stunned as I thought those wonderful Indonesian Islands to be free of such electronic gadgets - but SE Asia is where most of it is coming from. Mind you, my post seems to take an inordinate length of time to arrive, so perhaps it too has been off around the world!

[englishangel]

We are now getting phone spam at work. There is a company in Australia which keeps ringing (either Tim or Michael) and asking for one or other of us (not usually me which is strange because I usually answer the phone and I am the only full timer) and offer their services (whatever they are). One day the boss picked up the phone and said the company wasn't interested, they asked him who he was and he said the owner of the company and we weren't interested and it still doesn't stop them, twice on Friday and again yesterday.

[Jude]

We are now getting phone spam at work. There is a company in Australia which keeps ringing (either Tim or Michael) and asking for one or other of us (not usually me which is strange because I usually answer the phone and I am the only full timer) and offer their services (whatever they are). One day the boss picked up the phone and said the company wasn't interested, they asked him who he was and he said the owner of the company and we weren't interested and it still doesn't stop them, twice on Friday and again yesterday.

Misguided? Mad? Euntrepeneur? (ok speeling up the chute)

The worst calls are ones done at random by a computer - it's nearly always withtheld, and if I answer I find there is no one on the other line - so I just leave the phone on the side and go for a shower!!! I have found it has cut down the number of unwanted calls greatly - just ask them to hang on a moment and then leave the phone where it is and go make a cup of tea etc! They seem to get the message SO much BETTER!!!

[matthew]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7725492.stm

On my personal mail account, yes! Marked spam is down from an average of 30-40 a day to 10-15.

Undeliverable presumed spam (for the whole of atom.net, not just me!) is down from 1,200 a day to 600.

Curiously, I've also noticed an increase in the last few days in really, really obvious spam that doesn't even attempt to get past my filters. Perhaps less competent spammers are filling the gap in the market.

At work, not so much. If anything, spam is on the rise.

nope... but I guess my spam wasn't that high to begin with - although for some reason Canadian Tires are hounding me - I have never been to Canada, doubt I ever will, and being in the UK why do I need to know about their tyres (correct spelling!)

My brother's in the UK and loves Canadian Tire. I'm not quite sure why. They do print their own money.

[sejintenej]

We are now getting phone spam at work. There is a company in Australia which keeps ringing (either Tim or Michael) and asking for one or other of us (not usually me which is strange because I usually answer the phone and I am the only full timer) and offer their services (whatever they are). One day the boss picked up the phone and said the company wasn't interested, they asked him who he was and he said the owner of the company and we weren't interested and it still doesn't stop them, twice on Friday and again yesterday.

A cheap whistle on full blast keeps them at bay.