The War Against Emails
April 11th 2009 01:10
Big Brother has arrived well and truly in Great Britain. He's already had his heavy hand on telephone calls made in that country for a couple of years, and now a new law has been enacted which requires ISPs to keep track of every single email sent or received. EVERY SINGLE EMAIL.
All private emails, all business, all confidential, all nonsense, all those ridiculous chain emails, all spam, all those endless sexual enhancement emails, all those emails that try to sell you something you don't want, and all emails that are malware.
The idea behind this Draconian law harks back to the dark days of the 2005 terrorist bombings in London, and certainly that brief period in London's history was likely to bring out some attempts to improve surveillance. But how is the war against terrorism going to be served by keeping track of every single one of the three billion or so emails sent in Britain each day? It's an enormous waste of resources, and a scary intrusion on privacy.
And while we're talking about spam, apparently it's back to full strength for spammers again, after the brief respite brought about by the action taken against the US-based McColo ISP.
Furthermore, Google reports that a new form of junk email called location-based spam has arrived.
If users click on a link in a spam message they're sent to a page containing a false news headline that describes a crisis or disaster in a nearby major city. The email customises the location for each user by determining the location of the user's source IP, and then identifies the nearest major city. The addition of a location entices the user's interest, and tempts them to click on an embedded video which then downloads a virus to the user's machine.
So beware. Stick to spam emails that talk about disposable diapers, or some equally mundane article!
All private emails, all business, all confidential, all nonsense, all those ridiculous chain emails, all spam, all those endless sexual enhancement emails, all those emails that try to sell you something you don't want, and all emails that are malware.
The idea behind this Draconian law harks back to the dark days of the 2005 terrorist bombings in London, and certainly that brief period in London's history was likely to bring out some attempts to improve surveillance. But how is the war against terrorism going to be served by keeping track of every single one of the three billion or so emails sent in Britain each day? It's an enormous waste of resources, and a scary intrusion on privacy.
And while we're talking about spam, apparently it's back to full strength for spammers again, after the brief respite brought about by the action taken against the US-based McColo ISP.
Furthermore, Google reports that a new form of junk email called location-based spam has arrived.
If users click on a link in a spam message they're sent to a page containing a false news headline that describes a crisis or disaster in a nearby major city. The email customises the location for each user by determining the location of the user's source IP, and then identifies the nearest major city. The addition of a location entices the user's interest, and tempts them to click on an embedded video which then downloads a virus to the user's machine.
So beware. Stick to spam emails that talk about disposable diapers, or some equally mundane article!
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