SOT: shitfs in spam trends and topics

[Hugh Reilly]

Just re-reading my post. To be clear, I don't mean at all to sound like I'm 
advocating disrupting the Internet to preserve traditional power bases. 
Rather, I mean to suggest that we who value democracy and responsibility 
through decentralization should be aware that there may be incentive for 
certain bad guys to undermine the Internet and its decentralizing effect.



-Hugh
_______________________________________________
Hugh Reilly
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>From: "Hugh Reilly" <hughreilly1-PkbjNfxxIARBDgjK7y7TUQ at public.gmane.org>
>Reply-To: tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org
>To: tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org
>Subject: Re: [TLUG]: SOT: shitfs in spam trends and topics
>Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2003 10:10:46 -0500
>
>>From: Matthew Rice <matt-s/rLXaiAEBtBDgjK7y7TUQ at public.gmane.org>
>>Are you suggesting that we are receiving unintelligible e-mail because 
>>some
>>group [terrorists, fbi, cia, csis] are trying to send messages to each
>>other.  Do you supposed that they are sending a lot of them and getting 
>>the
>>e-mail addresses wrong or that they are sending a lot of them to confuse 
>>the
>>trail to the intended recipient?
>>
>>If you were to ask me, I'd say that this is similar to the book _Snow 
>>Crash_.
>>Microsoft is sending out these seemingly unintelligible e-mails and anyone
>>that looks at them has their brain 're-wired' into liking M$.
>>
>>   "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out
>>    to get you."
>
>A couple of notes to feed the paranoia:
>1. One of my jobs is to handle incoming customer email at the Toronto Sun. 
>Of course, 90%+ is spam. Many of these messages contain "nonsense" 
>verbiage, I think designed to outfox spam blocking. But reading this 
>"nonsense" can often give the impression that the creator is not operating 
>in a strictly mercantile role.
>
>2. A few years ago, I presented a paper at the McLuhan Program on the 
>"Information Ecology", wherein I described how the emerging Internet was a 
>radically decentralizing force which was undermining traditional power 
>structures, and that disrupting the Internet was a logical strategy for 
>maintaining traditional power base. It seems the spam epidemic is certainly 
>undermining the value of email. For example, I now tell Sun customers that 
>"just because you sent the email is no guarantee that we received the 
>email". If spam blocking becomes the norm, we can expect that 5% +/- of 
>legitimate emails just won't get through.
>
>-Hugh
>
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