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A way of turning the tables on internet spammers was announced today.

New software allows recipients of spam to band together to target known websites behind the messages.

The idea is to bombard the sites with messages, slowing them down and making them more expensive to run.

Computer users often complain about the scourge of spam – messages that arrive by email without permission.

Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, or quasi-legal services.

It costs very little to send, but can be a nuisance that clogs email inboxes.

Lycos, the entertainment and communications site, has now designed a screensaver that can launch counter-attacks.

The software waits until the computer is not in use and then sends HTTP requests – technical messages – to known spam sites.

The sites are selected from a blacklist of spammers used by portals such as Lycos and internet service providers.

The Make Love, Not Spam software relies on the principle of distributed computing, which harnesses the power of computers while they are idle.

Similar technology has been used for other challenges which require enormous computing capacity, such as finding a cure for cancer or sifting through the data gathered by SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

Lycos Europe is inviting its 20 million users to download the screensaver, although it is available to anyone with an internet connection.

Malte Pollman, director of communication services at Lycos Europe, said: “By next year it is estimated that 35 million spam emails will be sent every day.

“Now individual web users have a way of fighting back, by making life more difficult for the people sending spam.

“We believe that the power of the internet community can be mobilised to stop the spammers.”

However, not everyone is convinced the screensaver is the best way of battling spammers.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at anti-virus firm Sophos, said: “If you do manage to swamp the spammers then you set yourself up for more attacks in return.

“The initial target would be Lycos, but anyone installing the screensaver would be classed as an internet vigilante.

“Having this screensaver in a large company could slow down your internet connection. And what is to stop a mistake happening and the wrong number going on the list?

“Our advice is to have the most up-to-date anti-virus software and not to respond to anything which arrives as spam.”

The Make Love, Not Spam screensaver can be downloaded from www.lycos.co.uk

Source: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3824790

Vampyromaniac

OK, that sounds kinda illegal

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MIG-31

Thanks for the news submit.

this has already been Posted here by our freindly site owner zardon.

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