New sites similar to this one devoted to stopping
spam are popping up all the time. Could this be a testament to how
much it is disliked? Among them are:
A few software packages of note for fighting spam
include:
-
Bounce Spam Email
- Use this program to construct a phony "bounced" email message back to
a spammer. The idea is to make them think that your email address
doesn't exist.
-
Spammer Slammer - A piece
of software that operates between your email software and your server.
It scans your email for possible spam, and tags it with a SPAM1 to SPAM5
rating in the subject line before allowing it into your inbox. It
doesn't delete email, for the same reasons I mention earlier in the section
on email filtering. Works with many email programs, including Netscape,
Eudora and Outlook.
-
Spam
Hater - A more aggressive piece of anti-spam software that works with
several email packages, which will analyze the content of an email message
that you've already received and automatically generate one of four responses
ranging from polite to mean. Two drawbacks: 1) It targets it's
message to everyone listed in the Received lines of the email header, including
the innocent bystander servers which only relayed the mail from the spammer
without knowing it; and 2) it addresses email directly to the spammer,
which is a no-no. The best way to use this software is to allow it
to trace the spammer's source, and just use this address to send mail to
the appropriate authorities for the spammers site. Works with several
email packages.
-
More tools are available from ZDNet
for fighting spam.
-
Not so much a tool that allows you to filter out spam, the Cyberkit
gives you a set of network tools that you can use to track down a spammer.
Most of the time, the server name of the first Received: line is
forged, but the IP address usually isn't because they don't have control
over that portion of it. You can use the NSLookup tool in the Cyberkit
to identify the true name of the spammer's ISP, to speed your complaint
processing up. The NSLookup and TraceRoute portions of the tool perform
the same functions as some of the lookup forms on these Spam Wars pages,
but have their shortcomings when it comes to tracing spam from certain
countries. That's where you'll probably still need to use the tools
available on these pages for your hunting. Other tools, like Ping
and Finger sometimes allow you to have some additional insight into the
servers that a spammer may be using. Lastly, the author has included
a tool that will synchronize your computer's clock with one of the time
servers attached to the internet which are in turn connected to the atomic
clocks that are used to maintain the world's standard of time. Check
the link often, as the author seems to like his software, and updates it
somewhat frequently.
-
A freeware game where you shoot and/or kill spam has surfaced: Spam
Spam - Stop tainted spam before it gets you...
The next page contains
interfaces to web-based tools you can use to hunt down a spammer...
