Michael Gracie

The Australian Government has just released an anti-spam plugin for Outlook/Express that allows users to auto-delete spam and simultaneously report it to a central database.

Can you imagine all the jaded lover harassment email, falsely portrayed as a note regarding tax evasion, that is going to wind up in that thing?

That is what the software industry seems to be doing, or at least that is what Microsoft is doing. Advertise a car’s price, and then add thousands of dollars in packages to make it bearable - sound familiar? Now this - sell an operating system with known (and sometimes glaring) security holes, then provide an optional security package that tacks 20% onto the price. Of course, you have to advertise citing valid statistics:

“Microsoft said up to 70% of consumers either have no security software on their PC or have programs that are no longer updated.”

Maybe that is because consumers and businesses are just plain frustrated dealing with it. If that’s the case, you’d have to ask yourself…

Would you trust the optional safety belts and airbags in a car whose manufacturer has the highest death rates per crash?

The Chicago Tribune reports (via the LA Times): College Door Ajar for Online Criminals.

I’m wondering if there is some standard for the number of records of personally identifiable information that must be stolen before the MSM picks up on a story, as they’re a little late to the punch here.

It won’t be long before there are sensationalist headlines pouring across the net, portraying this university hacking issue as something new. Oops, there’s one already.

And he should take one bet - whether or not Instapundit will be removed from the Google index for hostile commentary this.

FYI: Red Herring released their North American Top 100 private companies list - several in the security realm are included.

Stephen Jau has posted a nice tutorial on how to automate SpamCop submissions. It’s worth a read for you client side users, especially if you are getting a little lazy about reporting samples.

There is also a selfish motive here, as the server I get regular email though checks the SpamCop RBL, and SpamCop is always good for a few points. As if I needed them…
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It is never fun watching scammers prey on the innocent, particularly through the use of technology. And with gas prices causing a pinch for those who can least afford it, you could expect someone (and I don’t mean the oil companies) is going to take advantage of the situation.

Shane Keats of McAfee Site Advisor noted that a lot of these “free gas” sites you might have noticed popping up across the net are really just scams - they are drawing you in to PAY for the CHANCE to win a “free gas card,” are going to pitch unrelated products, or they are just looking for your email address. Better than 25% of search results for “free gas” came up red according to the SiteAdvisor rating systems. Better than half of paid listings fared the same (which means there is a lot of money involved, if the scammers are willing to pay for ads).

Beware.

Kathleen Fitzpatrick of Planned Obsolescence notes that blog spambots seem to be getting smarter. Recent trackback spam to one of Ms. Fitzpatrick’s blogs seemed to have extracted information from the site at hand, twisted it around, and sent it back hoping to evade filters. Well, it worked - manual intervention and a keen eye were required to keep it out.

We all know that fighting blog spam is a hassle no matter how good the filters you employ are, but nowadays it is getting a bit trickier. In this case, though, I find some irony. The trackback spam in question was displaying links claiming to be from the University of Virginia, so maybe the spambots are studying there? Ok, that wasn’t so funny. Could Planned Obsolescence be hinting that blog software purveyors will soon be coming out with “new and improved spam filters - upgrade now” announcements? Uh, that attempt was even worse.

Gimme a break - its early.

So lets give it some before the situation spirals even further out of control.

The Washington Post reports: Study Finds ‘Extensive’ Fraud at Fannie Mae.

I’ve hinted that where there’s fraud, there are usually bigger problems, and in the case of Fannie Mae I think there is a lot more to the story than just some greedy executives. Hiding writeoffs suggests that assets in the portfolio are simply not worth what someone thought they were worth. That means home loans, and in some (if not many) cases, the underlying assets. I’ll give some credit to the intrinsic portfolio devaluation - FM pays a premium for the loans, and that is after the money centers paid a premium from the regionals, and the regionals paid a premium from the mortgage brokers. And with rates rising, those spreads are shrinking. Nevertheless, you have to ask why those premiums were paid in the first place, and the answer is the perceived value of the underlying assets, which for a fine period of time was rising faster than brokers could close the loans. The cocktail party talk was all “I closed on my new condo, and I already made $5,000!”

Heh. Americans have bet their retirement on home values. Pension funds have bet their beneficiaries’ retirement on home loans (they buy Fannie Mae bonds, don’t you know).

Big wagers, incestuous ties, greed, and fraud. Sounds like a Robert DeNiro movie - and if I remember, people often wind up in shallow graves in those.

First, Congress debates the issue; now the House approved a bill (no comment on it’s contents). Let’s see how far this goes.

Meanwhile, for those who still don’t understand what “net neutrality” is all about, the BBC has a nice piece which uses auto traffic as a metaphor for explaining the concept. Maybe having a custom SUV or pickup, with oversized off-road tires and a big bumper/grill guard (with an integrated winch) is the answer. Is there an internet equivalent to one of these? At least people will get out of the way, eh?