🚀 go-pugleaf

Forwarded from comp.internet.net-happenings:

> From: Lisa Mann [mailto:lisam@oreilly.com]
> Sent: Monday, October 12, 1998 1:37 PM
> 
> For Immediate Release
> October 12, 1998
> Media Only: to request your review copy, arrange an interview,
> or obtain book cover graphics, contact:
> Lisa Mann    lisam@oreilly.com
> (707) 829-0515 ext. 230
> 
> 
> Spam: An Internet Epidemic?
> spamspamspamspamspamspamspamspamspamspamspamspamspamspamspam
> 
> Make money fast!
> XXX-rated Web Site!
> University Diplomas for Sale!
> Meet Women!
> 
> Why are we getting junk messages, unsolicited ads, come-ons, and
> pornography in our email mailboxes and newsgroups -- and what can we
> do about them?
> 
> According to Alan Schwartz and Simson Garfinkel, authors of "Stopping
> Spam," a new book from O'Reilly & Associates: "Spam is the Internet's
> version of junk mail, telemarketing calls during dinner, crank phone
> calls, and leaflets pasted all over town, all rolled up into a single
> annoying electronic bundle." Their just released book is about
> unwanted email messages and inappropriate news articles--what they are,
> who is sending them, how to stop them, and even how to outlaw them.
> 
> "For years now, I've been quietly evading spam and reporting spammers,"
> says Alan Schwartz, "but as the volume of spam has increased, it's
> become important to me to help others recognize the dangers of spam and
> make techniques and tools for stopping spam widely available."
> 
> Schwartz is right; once an occasional annoyance, spam is reaching
> epidemic proportions.  Consider these statistics:
> 
> * According to America Online, roughly a third of the email messages
> AOL receives on any given day from the Internet are unsolicited spam.
> 
> * According to the first academic study of spam, by Lorrie Faith Cranor
> at AT&T Labs-Research and Brian A. LaMacchia at Microsoft, between 5%
> and 15% of the email received by AT&T Research and Bell Labs Research
> between April 1997 and October 1997 was spam.
> 
> * According to Spam Hippo, an automated Usenet anti-spam system,
> roughly 575,000 articles were posted to Usenet in June 1998, of which
> roughly 200,000, or 35%, were spam. (That's down from a high of 60%
> before Spam Hippo began operation.)
> 
> The low cost of spam (a typical spammer can send roughly 10,000 email
> messages for a penny) makes it far more attractive than traditional
> forms of advertising. But we all end up paying the price -- users,
> administrators, and the Internet as a whole.
> 
> "Stopping Spam" is for people whose mailboxes are full of junk
> messages. It's for people who are upset that they can't find the
> on-topic postings in their once-helpful Usenet newsgroups and fear that
> the community of newsgroup readers will dissolve in disgust.  And it's
> for system administrators, news administrators, network administrators,
> and Internet service providers (ISPs) who are concerned about the
> growing toll that spam is taking on their systems -- and are looking
> for a way to put an end to it once and for all.
> 
> In addition to technical details, "Stopping Spam" contains
> entertaining stories of the Green Card Lottery, the "Spam King," famous
> Internet chain letters, and court cases. The book is enjoyable to read,
> very timely, and gives you an important weapon in your battle against
> those who are abusing the Internet -- and its users.
> 
> "Spam mail is not democratic," says Garfinkel "Some people get a lot,
> others get just a little. The best indicator for how much spam you'll
> get is how long you've been on the Internet. So if you're not getting
> very much spam now, just wait a few months."  While you're waiting, buy
> this book -- you're going to need it!
> 
> 
> Three Things You Can Do To Help Stop Spam
> 
> According to Alan Schwartz, the top three things you can do to help
> stop spam are:
> 
> 1. Keep your email address out of the public eye, or disguise it.
> 
> 2. Use filters that recognize and eliminate spam before you have to read
> it.
> 
> 3. Complain about spam and spammers to their Internet service
> providers, and support anti-spam legislation that prohibits any
> unsolicited bulk email.
> 
> 
> Advance Praise for "Stopping Spam"
> 
> "Stopping Spam is an excellent resource, suitable for the new user or
> the experienced admin. It covers the history of spam fighting as well
> as the latest anti-spam techniques. Technical issues are covered in
> depth, yet the reading is easy. In short, Stopping Spam should be read
> by anyone who uses email, Usenet, or the World Wide Web."
> 	-- Cancelmoose, Author of NoCeM anti-spam software
> 
> "The authors of Stopping Spam are nothing short of arms merchants,
> supplying long-needed defensive weapons to be used in the war against
> unsolicited bulk email. This book offers something for everyone  quite
> approachable by novices, yet holding some surprises for experts." --
> Paul Vixie, Creator of the Mail Abuse Prevention System RealTime
> Blackhole List (MAPS RBL)
> 
> 
> About the Authors:
> Alan Schwartz is an assistant professor of clinical decision making in
> the Department of Medical Education at the University of Illinois at
> Chicago. He is the author of Managing Mailing Lists (O'Reilly &
> Associates, 1998). In his spare time, he develops and maintains the
> PennMUSH MUD server and brews beer and mead with his wife. As mail
> administrator for a number of organizations, he deals with unsolicited
> email on a daily basis; as the moderator of the rec.games.mud.announce
> USENET newsgroup, and a NoCeM issuer for rec.games.mud.admin, he
> gleefully fights back against netnews spam.
> 
> Simson Garfinkel is a computer consultant, science writer, and
> columnist for The Boston Globe. He is the author of PGP: Pretty Good
> Privacy (O'Reilly & Associates, 1994) and the co-author of  Practical
> UNIX & Internet Security (O'Reilly & Associates, 1996) and Web Security
> & Commerce (O'Reilly & Associates, 1997). He writes frequently about
> science and technology, as well as their social impacts. This is his
> seventh book.
> 
> "Stopping Spam" will be available at local bookstores in mid-October,
> or may be ordered direct from the publishers, O'Reilly & Associates, at
> (800) 998-9938, or (707) 829-0515 email order@oreilly.com, or
> http://www.oreilly.com.
> 
> About the Book:
> Stopping Spam
> By Alan Schwartz & Simson Garfinkel
> published by O'Reilly and Associates
> 1st Edition October 1998  (US)
> Softcover, 208 pages, 1-56592-388-X, $19.95 (US$)
> http://www.oreilly.com
> 
> 
> 


--
####    |\^/|     Colin R. Leech     ag414 or crleech@freenet.carleton.ca
#### _|\|   |/|_  Civil engineer by training, transport planner by choice.
#### >         <  Opinions are my own. You may consider them shareware.
####  >_./|\._<   "If you can't return a favour, pass it on." - A.L. Brown