Thursday, May 04, 2006

The Blue Frog - Giving Spammers a Taste of Their Own Meds!

Blue Security has an intersting approach to spam. For each spam you get, they send one complaint to the (real) sender. That means when a spammer sends you hundreds of junk mails, they get hundreds back. Naturally, some of the spammers are angry - this is getting in the way of their money making and the spammers are fighting back. Their latest tatics include sending aggressive emails to Blue Security "members" and a sophisticated DDOS attack on Blue Security's site. This DDOS also took down the TypePad and LiveJournal sites, as reported by Netcraft.

I've been trying to get onto Blue Security's page to download the Frog. After several attempts last night, I managed to get the software down, but can't get to their site to register.

Looking at the tatics being used by the spammers, it's clear they are scared. Sending aggressive and threatening emails must be borderline extortion (get off the list or else), and the DDOS attacks must be illegal. Frankly, if they want to send more spam, it's just more spam the Frog can return to them with an opt out request.

I'm tired of spam, and I suspect most of you are too. The spammers tactics here convince me more than ever that they need to be stopped. Arguably, there is a place for direct e-mail - but what we're seeing sure is not responsible, ethical or helpful to their cause. I suggest you wait till the latest attack blows over then register. And the report each and every spam you get till the spammers just get tired and move on.

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