Rob Clymo: Columnist - Tech & Gadgets
Wednesday, 02 July 2008
The Clymo Brief: Waging war on spam
Read more from columnist Rob Clymo here

The last few days of my humble existence have been dominated in equal measure by outstandingly tedious spam messages and infuriating websites. It started at home on Saturday when I got a random web-style newsletter from a squash ‘organisation’.

"Clymo," it said, "You have received this email because you subscribed to it." Erm, no I didn’t. And it’s Mr Clymo to you. Besides, I’ve never played a game in my life so they’re not likely to sell me a racket, balls or any other kind of squash paraphernalia anytime soon, thank you very much.
Infected websites
According to research by Sophos, the biggest threat for most computer users today comes from the web and email. Hardly a revelation, until you hear the scary statistics. "One new malware-infected webpage is discovered every five seconds," reveals Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant with the anti-spam specialists.

"There are over 15,000 new infected web pages uncovered every day, and 79% of those are legitimate websites that have been hacked."

"What that means to users is that if you visit a website, you may become infected by a piece of malware designed to steal your identity simply by browsing to the site. This doesn't just happen if you visit a pornographic or gambling website – it can happen when you visit any kind of website. A recent example is the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) website which was found to be carrying infected web pages during the Wimbledon tournament."

Sea of spam
The spam continues back at work on Monday, this time from a nightclub that keeps trying to get me to go to their bangin’ house nights. Not interested. I told them as much and got this shirty email saying ‘Well, go to the ‘Unsubscribe’ link and remove yourself’. Excuse me, I didn’t sign up in the first place.

If it’s not spam, it’s something else. On Tuesday I’m sent an automated email telling me a flight I’ve booked has been rescheduled. The good news is that I’m still going from Southampton to Aberdeen. The bad news is that it’s via Belfast, is about two hours earlier and the journey time has gone from around one hour to nearly six. My options? There aren’t any. No other flights on that day so I’m stuck with it and all for the bargain basement fare of £153.
By Wednesday I try to pay the electricity bill online. The website doesn’t recognise me, even though I’ve registered before. Three attempts to log in but no joy. I try the automated phone payment system and the digitised voice at the other end is obviously having an off day and refuses to understand me. After half an hour I give up.

Lost identity
On Thursday I have to carry out a chore on a government website, and I fear the worst. I go through six steps and then, out of the blue, it asks for an ID number. I try a couple from my original registration emails. They don’t work. I email them. They don’t reply. I phone them. "I can’t hear you caller," says the distant voice at the other end. "If you can hear me, please replace the handset and try again." I do and get cut off. I phone back and, after a lengthy wait, a guy says he can resend the ID I need via email.

"But they usually end up in the trash," he tuts.

"You sound like you’ve said that before?" I add wearily.
Breaking up
On Friday the phone goes and it’s a salesman from my gas company. He gives me the spiel on this boiler scheme they have on offer. "One of your colleagues said all this to me last Friday," I tell him. She kept on cutting out so I ended up putting the phone down.

This guy is even more persistent. "Well, we are your energy supplier. You must have put your number into our website (I didn’t). So do you have cover at the moment? Who is it with?" This time I pretend the line is breaking up and say "Hello" repeatedly into the handset until he hangs up. It’s the oldest trick in the book, mate.

Hefty fines
In between all this, my inbox continues to fill with all manner of spam. Laws on email marketing came into force back in December 2003, with fines for wrongdoing supposedly hefty. But this doesn’t seem to bother Moses H. Slingback and all the other madly monikered legions who keep trying to sell me Viagra from far-flung corners of the globe. And that’s a big part of the problem. As most of the spam we receive comes from outside of the UK, our slowly evolving laws can’t touch it.
"Spam is a worldwide problem which knows no national boundaries, and computer crime authorities are working hard at tracking down the worst offenders," says Graham Cluley.

"However, legislation alone is not going to be the answer to the spam problem. The fundamental reason why spam exists is because it works – in a nutshell, it makes money for the spammers.

"11% of people admit to having bought goods advertised via spam. If you buy goods marketed via spam then you are simply encouraging the spammers to send more junk email. If no-one purchased the products, then the spammers would largely disappear."

So what am I to do? Well, I’m going to try some new and improved software and let you know what it’s like in a couple of weeks or so. Watch this space…


Recent columns from Rob Clymo:

Goodbye Mr Gates
Faking it with digital photos
Beating the burglars

All Rob Clymo's columns for Tech & Gadgets

Rob Clymo is a journalist employed on a freelance basis by Microsoft. The views in this article are those of the author and not of MSN or Microsoft. Microsoft is the publisher and owner of MSN Tech & Gadgets.