FROM: M.A. Predko, (416)448-4793, Tie Line 778-4793, FAX x5998
Advisory Engineer - OEM Test Engineering
System Board and Advanced Systems Business Units
Subject: NYT Article on Spams

Hi Folks,

This came over the news system as work.  I thought it might be of
interest:

Subject: "On Information Highway, E-Mail Litter Problem Grows"
Source:  NYT, 5/26/97, pg 1, George Johnson

The exponential growth of spam, or unsolicited mass E-mail, has spawned
several counter-measures including the introduction of bills in Congress.

o Jason Lavoie, Maine Internetworks network mgr, was burned recently
  - the network manager was roused from bed to find a flood of E-mail
  - they had been used as a 'relay' by a mass mailer (Master Graphics)
  - incurring wrath by recipients who thought the ISP was the originator
    . ISP = Internet Service Provider
  "It costs us bandwidth and system resources, and it costs my time to
   respond to the complaints.  What the sender really is doing is shifting
   the cost of junk E_mail to the end-user rather than the sender"
o 'what was a trickle has become a torrent' resulting in proposals
  - the Federal Trade Commission will hold a hearing next month
  - two anti-spam bills were introduced in Congress last week
    . one would extend the existing law against junk faxes
  - some ISPs try to use filters to block mail from spammers, but...
    the junk mailers keep changing their addresses, like a mutant virus
    . plus, the effort to block E-mail uses a lot of computer resource
  - at least one ISP (Earthlink) won an injunction against CyperPromo
  - a band of Internet users hacked CyperPromo this month
    . but the success was short-lived, they were back the next day
o what the spammers send out is not without little ironies
  - one spammed the spammers with an ad on how to fake origin addresses
  - CyberPromo sent an ad for a product to block their own spam
  - CyberPromo (and Agis.net, their ISP) say they provide value but
    they are also collecting names of people who say they want the mail
    "That's Plan B.  When and if a law says we can't do Plan A - sending
     unsolicited E-mail - then we will be prepared"  Sanford Wallace

myke

Michael Predko
"Caution: Cape does not enable user to fly."
 - Batman costume warning label, Wal-Mart, 1995