spam

What's in a name? A lot more than etymology. When it comes to junk mail, it turns out some names fare better than others in e-mail addresses depending on what letter they start with, according to a study conducted at the University of Cambridge. In an attempt to explain why certain people get more spam, computer security researcher Dr. Richard Clayton reviewed more than 550 million e-mails sent to customers through one of the U.K's. biggest internet service providers between February and March this year.

Tomorrow is a special day for spam—its turning 30. Even those despised emails about enlarging certain body parts, discounts on health products, Rolex watches, enhancing your love life have to have an origin.

In fact, spam began inoffensively enough with an email sent May 3, 1978 to about 400 users of Arpanet, (the government-run network that later became in the Internet) from a marketer at the (now defunct) computer company Digital Equipment Company. The first one wasnt the scam- and virus-filled message familiar to todays Internet users—just a friendly email inviting all to a showing of a new computer system.

Google's CAPTCHA appears to have been cracked. On closer inspection, however, it seems Russian spammers have solicited humans to do the solving and to pass those accounts on to the computers. Websense Threat is reporting that one out of every five attacks of this kind on Google has been successful. Why is this an alarming development? Let's take a look at the CAPTCHA in order to understand.

The Federal Communications Commission busted an online advertiser that used misleading subject lines in its spam, leading consumers to believe they were eligible for free products. The company, Member Source Media, settled with the FCC for $200,000 and other penalties. But its kind of a wonder that they were successful at all.