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ntluser · 13-07-2004, 09:38

Lots of innocent people, who never use their e-mail address publicly are hit with SPAM and I suspect that it's a number of things.

First, spammers seem to take a christian name e.g. John, add every surname they can find and put "@ntlworld.com" on the end and then mass mail the e-mail addresses generated.They also note the e-mail addresses of people who asked to be removed from their list, something you should never do as it confirms your e-mail address as valid and real.

Second they obtain, legally or illegally, the database address lists of companies, who are quite happy to sell them on.

Third, they hack sites and obtain their registration lists.

No doubt they also have other ways of obtaining e-mail addresses e.g. through key loggers, trojan horse viruses etc. but get them they do.

I use SPAMPal and the Rules Wizard to eliminate SPAM from my PC and that works fairly well.SPAMPal tags the SPAM and a rule in Rules Wizard consigns the tagged SPAM automatically to the "Deleted Items" folder.End of story.

I use the AVG 6.0 free version (with its e-mail scanner)in conjunction with SPAMPal to get rid of e-mails with viruses.

I use Ad-aware and SpyBot to get rid of Adware.

And I use Browser Hijack Blaster and Spywareblaster to fend off those who try to surreptitiously install ActiveX controls.

Most if not all programs update automatically and so I'm relatively untroubled.

What surprises me is why NTL could not apply similar strategies to e-mail being sent to their servers.

They would only have to eliminate e-mails from known SPAM sites and have some kind of e-mail address verification system to deal with e-mails that are SPAM made from "spoof", non-existent e-mail addresses.

I just wonder if there is something under the Data Protection Act or similar legislation which prevents NTL from doing that. Anyone from NTL care to comment?

13-07-2004, 09:38	#46
ntluser Inactive Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Manchester Age: 78 Services: Virgin Media XL Telephone,TV with Tivo box & Superhub3 upto 150Mb Broadband, Sky World, & Freeview+ Posts: 1,901	Re: NTL spam Lots of innocent people, who never use their e-mail address publicly are hit with SPAM and I suspect that it's a number of things. First, spammers seem to take a christian name e.g. John, add every surname they can find and put "@ntlworld.com" on the end and then mass mail the e-mail addresses generated.They also note the e-mail addresses of people who asked to be removed from their list, something you should never do as it confirms your e-mail address as valid and real. Second they obtain, legally or illegally, the database address lists of companies, who are quite happy to sell them on. Third, they hack sites and obtain their registration lists. No doubt they also have other ways of obtaining e-mail addresses e.g. through key loggers, trojan horse viruses etc. but get them they do. I use SPAMPal and the Rules Wizard to eliminate SPAM from my PC and that works fairly well.SPAMPal tags the SPAM and a rule in Rules Wizard consigns the tagged SPAM automatically to the "Deleted Items" folder.End of story. I use the AVG 6.0 free version (with its e-mail scanner)in conjunction with SPAMPal to get rid of e-mails with viruses. I use Ad-aware and SpyBot to get rid of Adware. And I use Browser Hijack Blaster and Spywareblaster to fend off those who try to surreptitiously install ActiveX controls. Most if not all programs update automatically and so I'm relatively untroubled. What surprises me is why NTL could not apply similar strategies to e-mail being sent to their servers. They would only have to eliminate e-mails from known SPAM sites and have some kind of e-mail address verification system to deal with e-mails that are SPAM made from "spoof", non-existent e-mail addresses. I just wonder if there is something under the Data Protection Act or similar legislation which prevents NTL from doing that. Anyone from NTL care to comment?