Anti-spam vigilantes?

[Cheap Ego]

I'm sure most of us have thought of how to get back at the companies dumping all those diet-pill and university diploma ads in our mailboxes. Or, if it could ever be achievable, persuade would-be spammers to find some other way to harass us.
Unfortunately, there has never really been a very efficient way to deal with this problem.

What about vigilantes?

As 99% of those spammers are advertising for web based businesses (using the term loosely), why not create some kind of hacker collective (don't ask me to, i know nothing of hacking) that could give spammers Denial Of Service attacks or other means of inconveniencing them? Kind of a punishement for using unethical advertisement practices...

Perhaps they would give up on spamming for fear that it would end up in the wrong hands, causing trouble, in turn, for them..

Would it be possible to form some kind of unowned/anonymous submission procedure, to queue up spamming businesses for hacking-related retaliation tactics...?

From an overly optimistic perspective, If it got big enough, the fear of getting hacked could eliminate spam altogether.. Giving hacking an even more positive spin in the public eye.

Any thoughts?

 

[Bass-Invader]

most spammers just sign up for an isp and send crap from there...
or use hotmail etc...

who exactly would you propose we hack?

A DoS attack on hotmail.com would surely incur the full legal wrath of Microsoft against any foolish enough to try.

Plus, all the other users of any of these unsuspecting ISPs would be subject to the consequences of any hacker spam-retaliation. Since it is not ISPs doing the spamming, it is one or two rogue users who usually only keep their accounts for short periods of time since when their ISP catches them, they cut them off, attacking the actual culprit becomes increasingly difficult.

 

[Cheap Ego]

nonono...

I'm proposing that the company being advertised be on the receiving end.

I understand that you can't hold those in charge of the channels responsible, so why not direct it at the instigator?

 

[Cheap Ego]

To further my point...

companies that use spam to advertise their services are usually fairly small, since they can afford seedy image that comes with spam advertising. Therefore the ones hit, aren't big enough to rock the boat.

Breaching anti-spam rules would not legally legitimize a DoS attack, which is why there should be some way of anonimizing the process.

 

[OTIS]

I agree there has to be more vigilant groups on the net whose sole purpose is to remind corporations that they do not run the net, the people do.

 

[Bumbaclat]

If you want to screw with them examine the URL being sent. 70% of the time it is not the company itself that is spamming you but an affiliate.

If the URL says... "www.superflyjeans.com/refID?=CheapEgo" then it was not Super Fly Jeans Co. but "Cheap Ego" that signed up off their website as an affiliate and sent the spam. They present the e-mail as if it was the Jean co. but it is not, the Jean co. had no control over how they promote their affilaite URL. HOWEVER, most affiliate agreements stipulate you can't spam. Go to the site in question and see if they have a spammer reporting process . If they don't, just e-mail the webmaster of the site and make sure you include the affiliate ID. The affiliate spammer could lose their status and forfeit all money generated by their entire spam list. I've done it a few times.

Bumbaclat

 

[air-bag]

Originally posted by Cheap Ego
why not create some kind of hacker collective (don't ask me to, i know nothing of hacking) that could give spammers Denial Of Service attacks

Originally posted by Bass-Invader
who exactly would you propose we hack?

oh shit...

>raise firewall
no match

 

[Bass-Invader]

Re: Re: Anti-spam vigilantes?

Originally posted by air-bag



oh shit...

>raise firewall
no match

i slipped!

 

[air-bag]

^^ lol @ freudian bling... err....slip

 

[nusty]

tell me where they live and I'll ring their doorbell and smack them in the face with a big mickey mouse glove! And then squeese their nose and say honk (twice) followed by a fart and finally squirting my flower filled with water (pined to my chest) at them!

After I do this twice every day for 5 years... they will never want to send you spam again.

Any one up for funding me?