Lycos screensaver tackles spam websites.. if you can find it
Neat idea: DDOS the spammers, or at least up their bandwidth bills SETI-style. The BBC reports on a Lycos screensaver that tackles spam websites essentially by polling them again and again. It gets its benefit from scale - the more people do this, the tougher on the spammers. (Though one also suspects this is like trying to kill cockroaches.)
However, the link on the BBC page, to http://makelovenotspam.com/intl goes nowhere for me except to a sales page trying to get me to sign up to Lycos.
Um, Lycos people? This is the thing that should be at the end. Because if I’m concerned about spam then I *already* have an email account. Stands to reason, don’t you think? I’m not going to click on any of the options to sign up for a paid-for or free Lycos account. I just want the anti-spam screensaver. That’s assuming it’s available for OSX, which may be hoping too far. But I’ll never know, will I?
The sensible way to have done this would have been to have a few pages explaining how the screensaver works, with links along the way to Lycos’s email packages. Forcing the issue like this simply means nobody gets to download the screensaver.
Because the screensaver must exist, right? It’s not just a.. publicity stunt?
- These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
- That didn't last long: Lycos withdraws its spammer-DDOSing screensaver (6 December 2004; score: 167.98%)
- My take on the BBC licence fee in the future digital age (4 March 2005; score: 43.8%)
- Spam: the beast is in the numbers (6 March 2006; score: 40.5%)
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December 2nd, 2004 at 5:52 am
One possible reason why makelovenotspam.com/intl isn’t producing the goods for you is that the thing appears as a popup - with the main window going, as you say, to a general lycos signup/PR page.
If you’re like me, you’ll have popups blocked in firefox or whatever you’re using at the moment.
Although - and here’s the odd bit - the damn’ thing appeared anyway on my machine, despite the firefox settings (which I’ve just - with some incredulity - checked). I’m sure there’s a perfectly good (or bad) reason which I don’t have time right now to check why that’s happening…
The Machead in me wants to blame the PC I’m using. But since I haven’t had a chance to check it on the powerbook at home, I shouldn’t really go there. Yet.
December 2nd, 2004 at 9:51 am
The register reported yesterday that the site had got hacked and was taken down.
Of course it could all be one big publicity stunt. You never know.
December 2nd, 2004 at 12:18 pm
Not a publicity stunt, it seems, as I managed to get onto the site this morning. And not a terribly good idea either, if you think about it. DDOS the spammers makes you feel good but doesn’t that make us vigilantes? What of the blackmailing criminals who’ve forced legitimate sites off the air or cost them significant business using DDOS attacks? They’re wrong and we’re right? I won’t be downloading this.