spam

Facebook Finally Strikes It Rich -- in Court

Chris Dannen — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:07:23 -0400

Three imbeciles who exploited stolen Facebook accounts to send spam were fined $711 million in damages on Thursday, payable to Facebook.

Sanford Wallace, Adam Arzoomanian, and Scott Shaw allegedly stole login credentials for Facebook accounts and used them to propagate a spam and phishing scheme that paid them for their referrals. The three will also face criminal charges (for criminal contempt) and jail time.

Google Acquires reCAPTCHA

Chris Dannen — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:45:58 -0400

Google has announced on its official blog that it will purchase reCAPTCHA, the company famous for generating those hard-to-read anti-spam filters on every signup page you visit.

Need an Economic Barometer? Check These Four Indicators

Lydia Dishman — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:43:08 -0400

The economy is showing signs of life. Cause for celebration: for the first time since the beginning of the year U.S. manufacturing is on the rise, and the Wall Street Journal reported, "financial markets in much of the world have been rallying in recent months. Businesses and households have been regaining confidence, and economists have revised forecasts upward. U.S.

From High-Tech Leader to President O-Spamma--What Happened?

Kit Eaton — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:55:35 -0400

Before he sat in the Oval Office, Barack Obama promised the world a high-tech, pro-science presidency. And over the last weeks his promise has come true: The Administration has embraced the high-tech world of spamming.

Twitter Accuses PR-Hungry Pay-for-Followers Service of Spamming, Says PR-Hungry Pay-for-Followers Service

Dan Macsai — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:28:42 -0400

Web promotions company uSocial, which offers ridiculous deals such as "1,000 new Twitter followers for $87," has reportedly gotten itself on Twitter's bad side.

Update: The Facebook Phishing Scam Continues

Chris Dannen — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:25:43 -0400

Last week I wrote about a phishing and malware scam that has plagued Facebook for weeks. It wasn't quite a virus, because it affected Mac users--but it wasn't entirely Web-based either, because some of the links it hawked were malware download sites. All in all, a pretty standard phishing scheme, with some clever scripting that allowed it to propagate itself inside Facebook. But how did it get in there to begin with?

What's the Carbon Footprint of Spam? Enough to Power 2.4 Million Homes

Ariel Schwartz — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:17:57 -0400

The carbon footprint of a single email is negligible, but new research from ICF International and McAfee shows that the 62 trillion spam emails sent each year waste 33 billion kilowatt hours of power, or enough to power 2.4 million homes. The majority of energy is wasted at the end user's computer in sifting through messages to find and delete spam.

Is Twitter's Marketing Power Going to Waste?

Kit Eaton — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:16:42 -0400

The Internet is buzzing with discussion on exactly how the social-network site Twitter can turn its business into profit. With a simple purpose--short message sharing--and millions of users you'd think it'd be easy. But some new research by Webtrends has cast doubt on the idea that advertising could be the way to Twitter will do it.

Spam Seeps Into Social Networks

Marc Hausman — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:17:32 -0400

Like an invasive
species, spam continues to creep into social communities with the goal of
destroying the trusted bond that exists between members.

Work/Life: Will the real Turbotax please stand up?

Lynette Chiang — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:07:35 -0400

April 9: See UPDATE at the end of this article.

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Hold The Politics

Kevin Milden — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:20:29 -0500

Organizations everywhere are being held back by the very people they have put into place to further the growth of the company. Wether they are individuals that are entrenched in their current position and are warding of the threat of another competitive employee or just people who like it the status quo the way it is. It's really sad. So many companies have the influence, money and creativity to deliver really great products but are limited only by the staff in which have empowered. Want to make a difference?

The New Ad Spec — Post A Comment

Kevin Milden — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 04:06:57 -0500

User generated content will one day be dominated by people who write personal and highly believable recommendations that are fake.