Escalating the war on spam, a California company wants to let thousands of users collaborate to disable the Web sites spammers use to sell their wares.
A leading anti-spam advocate, however, criticized Blue Security Inc.’s Blue Frog initiative as being no more than a denial-of-service attack, the technique hackers use to effectively shut down a Web site by overwhelming it with fake traffic.
“It’s the worst kind of vigilante approach,” said John Levine, a board member with the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail. “Deliberate attacks against people’s Web sites are illegal.”
Eran Reshef, Blue Security’s founder and chief executive, denied any wrongdoing, saying Blue Frog was merely empowering users to collectively make complaints they otherwise would have sent individually.
Here’s how the technique works:
* When users add e-mail addresses to a “do-not-spam” list, Blue Security creates additional addresses, known as honeypots, designed to do nothing but attract spam.
* If a honeypot receives spam, Blue Security tries to warn the spammer. Then it triggers the Blue Frog software on a user’s computer to send a complaint automatically.
* Thousands complaining at once will knock out a Web site and thus encourage spammers to stop sending e-mail to the “do-not-spam” list.
Web games let players win cash, prizes: Upcoming Web versions of “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” will let fans do more than sit on the couch and shout answers at their televisions.
Players will be able to compete against others online for cash, trips and other prizes – starting next month with “Wheel of Fortune,” followed by “Jeopardy!” later this year.
Existing video game versions only let you play against computerized opponents. The new offering from WorldWinner Inc. of Newton, Mass., and Sony Pictures Digital sets up contests between real people.
There will be free versions, but players will have to pay for a shot at cash and prizes. The cost per game will average about $1 but some may be as high as $10, WorldWinner spokeswoman Allison Rynak said.
Ken Jennings wannabes, however, may want to consider another route to quiz show stardom. Perhaps the most coveted prize – becoming a show contestant – isn’t up for grabs.
Post targets site by ZIP: The Washington Post’s Web site has begun offering readers different home pages based on the ZIP codes they provided at registration.
Jim Brady, the site’s executive editor, said the decision helps the Post avoid constantly making compromises to serve both a local and national audience.
A car crash that snarls morning commutes might warrant top billing on the local home page while having no bearing on the national audience, which Brady said is 75 percent of the Post’s total online readership. The print version faces no such dilemma, Brady said, because its distribution is local.
The Washington Post Co. owns The Herald.
Google visits the moon, finds cheese: Thirty-six years to the day since Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon, Google Inc. extended its mapping service to cover the lunar surface.
Google Moon won’t give you driving directions or the nearest restaurants, the types of information available with Google Maps and Google Earth. But the lunar tool lets you zoom and move around – to the extent NASA has provided images for those areas.
The feature debuting Wednesday at http://moon.google.com also shows the locations of all six Apollo moon landings. Click on one to get the date and astronauts involved.
Google jokes that by July 20, 2069 – the 100th anniversary – the company will integrate its local search product with Google Moon, so users can find out about lunar businesses and other moon-related information.
From The Associated Press
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