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Don't Spam The Russian Deputy Communications Minister
from the spamming-back-the-spammers dept
Found over at Slashdot is this great story of how the Russian Deputy Communications Minister decided to get back at some spammers. They had originally sent him 40 identical spams, advertising English language lessons. He tried to politely opt out, but found (what did you expect?) that he just got more spam than before from them (and others) - and now it was addressed to him personally. So, he teamed up with an anti-spam group and set up a system to call the spammers non-stop while repeating a recorded message with his voice telling them to stop their "illegal" activities (though, he admits, spamming isn't actually illegal). The spammers, for their part, say they figured out a way to block the phone calls, and have sent out new spam saying their phone systems are down, but people should contact them via ICQ. I wonder if the Deputy Communications Minister has an ICQ account.
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No Subject Given
American Language Center is one of the worst spammers out there. Luckily, SpamAssassin learned to filter out their messages, but generally there're about 12-15 messages per day arriving at the same address. They're offering English language services in Moscow, but will spam you anywhere on this planet if you ever left your e-mail address anywhere in Russian Internet or if they suspect you speak the language.
Actually, kudos to the guys, their tireless efforts to get around the client-side filters helped me to test different heuristics and tools in order to figure out their efficiency. By the way, the Moscow phone number is 105-5186, just in case you ever wondered. The web site used to be at www.americancenter.ru, but seems to be mysteriously gone.
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all I can say is Yeeehaaa!
The language center in question can say all it wants that their business wasn't disrupted...but c'mon...you lose the use of your phones and your business is by definition disrupted...you furthermore lose the use of email and your busines is even further disrupted...
If you have to rely on ICQ to conduct business...well you're pretty mickey mouse at this point..
All I can say is I hope someone informs the minister on the use of various ICQnukers out there and they knock these idiots right off the net.
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Re: No Subject Given
I've heard nothing but complaints about the American Language Center - they may have changed their name to the Harvard or New York Language Center.
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