[lug] linux firewall, popup windows spam blocking

[D. Stimits]

Bear Giles wrote:

> D. Stimits wrote:
>
> > Bear Giles wrote:
>
>
> > I've been told that the companies that sell spam lists are now selling
> > spam software to use popups to directly trespass on machines. In this
> > case, www.byebyeads.com is essentially doing a criminal trespass to
> > directly invade the user's machine, and paste a note that says if y ou
> > pay them their software fee (extortion money), that they will stop
> > attacking the machine. I call it an attack because it has caused
> > machine lockup and failure multiple times in the last day or two.
>
>
> Have you contacted the state Attorney General?  Maybe nothing will come
> of it, maybe the AG is looking for a test case for popup spam and their
> message is so poorly phrased that they can piggyback it on a basic
> extortion charge.
>
>  > ask that it
>
> > become an official criminal trespass to invade a port on a machine
> > after being specifically requested to stop doing so.
>
>
> Don't hold your breath for that one.
>
> The problem is illustrated by your own problem.  Let's say you set up a
> firewall rule such that any popup message from them triggers a standard
> email cease&desist order send back to them.
>
> So they order you to make on further attempts to send them email, on
> penalty of criminal trespass charge.  Yet they continue to send you
> popup spam.  Now what do you do?
>
> We all see a huge difference between sending out something from a
> spamming list and responding to an intrusion, but how do you codify that
> into law?  It's a lot harder than you might think, and if it's not done
> right the solution may be worst than the problem.

I do plan to figure out exactly how to stop this, to publish it, and to 
send a complaint to government contacts (which could include an attorney 
general). These people are not emailing a public email server, they are 
directly entering my machine through a microsoft vulnerability and 
crashing it, causing loss of data.

D. Stimits, stimits AT attbi DOT com

>
> _______________________________________________
> Web Page:  http://lug.boulder.co.us
> Mailing List: http://lists.lug.boulder.co.us/mailman/listinfo/lug
> Join us on IRC: lug.boulder.co.us port=6667 channel=#colug
>