It wasn't really a 419 scam, but I think I came a little too close to falling for another Nigerian scam this week.
Some time back, I listed some computer equipment on Craigslist. Not really high-dollar stuff, but stuff I'm not using, and while I'm not in desperate need of the money, it would come in very handy. And Craigslist is a lot less hassle than a garage sale.
Lycos has released a screensaver that combats spam. It just tries to repeatedly download the web content of known spammers in hopes of driving up their bandwidth costs.
This really isn't anything new--I've long suspected spam was using ActiveX controls to infect computers with spyware and other unpleasantries, but now a spam message that infects your computer when you opt out is gaining publicity.
I read a statement in a very right-leaning publication not long ago that made me really mad. It made the statement that government regulation is never the solution to a problem, and the problem of spam should be dealt with through software, not legislation.
The Dayton Daily News ran a story today about another sleazy spammer. Naturally, it took Slashdot mere hours to dig up an address, based on clues from the article.
Someday we'll get a spam filter at work, and the day can't come soon enough. On Wednesday I got fed up with getting 8-12 messages a day from "Fulfillment Center"--I was much more irate than usual today--so I took a desperate measure.
