messages

The worldwide volume of spam has decreased in the third quarter of this year, thanks in large part to the mass shutdowns of some major botnet systems . In their latest reports, security software companies Symantec and Kaspersky have found that spam ... volumes decreased 47 percent compared to August figures. Botnets are formed when (for example) malicious software is unknowingly installed on an MS Windows PC. That PC then becomes part of a "zombie network" of infected systems which are then used to propagate spam email messages. Kaspersky weighed in on the correlation between legitimate ... (view more)

Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) restrict, redirect, or reject inbound emails to save users the time and hassle of having to deal with irrelevant 'junk' messages. However, new studies are showing that a number of ISPs are rejecting millions of ... legitimate emails every day. The problem does not pertain to one-to-one personal messages. Rather, mass marketing emails and communications from sources like social networking sites (and even infopackets.com) are not being delivered to users. The problem is that even though users have specifically requested to receive these emails, the messages ... (view more)

Twitter has reiterated that users of its microblogging service retain the copyright to their comments. However, the site has refused to rule out using posts for targeted advertising purposes in the future. The site has revised its terms and ... conditions to clarify various legal positions. The move appears to be a reaction to public relations problems experienced by rival social networking site Facebook, which recently declared it had the right to use content even after the relevant user had cancelled their account . On the face of it, Twitter is using plain language to reassure users of their ... (view more)

While millions of people clamored to hear late-breaking news and updates on the sudden passing of the Prince of Pop, hackers and online deviants around the world rushed to their computers to spread spam and malware to an endless sea of vulnerable ... mourners. Hundreds of cases of malicious messages masquerading as information about Jackson's death were reported Thursday night. The emails claimed to have contained "vital information" about the circumstances surrounding his death, while also asking users to respond in order to become privy to the "secret" details. (Source: infoworld.com ) ... (view more)

Hackers have taken notice of the worldwide H1N1 hysteria and, in an effort to catch people reading up on the virus, have begun flooding email inboxes with messages promising "swine flu" news. These messages instead deliver malware and dubious ... advertisements promoting anything from herbal medications to male enhancement pills. The "hot topic" of the past few weeks has been the worldwide spread of the H1N1 virus, more commonly referred to as "swine flu". All across the globe, analysts and experts have urged people to help stop the global outbreak by reading up on the virus, and if any symptoms ... (view more)

Google has said sorry to users of its Gmail service after they were left without access to their emails for almost two hours early last week. The firm made a rare apology on its official blog after the outage, saying "The issue was caused by a ... temporary outage in our contacts system that was preventing Gmail from loading properly." (Source: blogspot.com ) There has been some speculation the problem may be connected with a recent change to Gmail's contacts system, designed to separate contacts users have manually added from those which are created automatically when you send or receive a ... (view more)

Apple has admitted that problems with its MobileMe service may mean 10% of emails have been lost for good. The service, aimed at users of mobile devices such as the new iPhone, gives access to features such as online data storage, an address book ... and calendar, and email, with data and setting accessible from all the user's devices. While the launch last month at first appeared to have gone without a hitch, some customers soon after reported problems accessing their emails (both new and old). According to a company blog, this issue only affected 1% of users -- however, Apple now says, "We ... (view more)

A North Carolina man has become the first person jailed in the US for spamming, despite his attempts to cite the First Amendment. The Virginia Supreme Court upheld a nine year sentence given to Jeremy Jaynes, though only by a 4-3 margin. It's ... thought he sent ten million spam messages in July and August of 2003 alone, though the original prosecutors only presented evidence of 53,000 messages sent over a three-day period (it's a felony crime to send more than 10,000 spams a day). He was found guilty on three counts, and given a three year-sentence for each. Jaybes was prosecuted in Virginia, ... (view more)

Sometimes we receive e-mail messages referring to some earlier messages that we don't remember and cannot find. That is always perplexing. There is a command in MS Outlook that is often overlooked that can help with this and it's very simple. Follow ... the steps below to learn about it: Select a message and click on Actions | Find All | Related Messages. Outlook will now search for all messages with the same subject line, including all forwarded versions. This is really a shortcut for using the Advanced Find feature, but with the search criteria already entered for you. Outlook adds a shortcut ... (view more)

Shortly after purchasing new cellular service from Verizon Wireless in November 2006, Lindsey Abrams of Patriot, Indiana began receiving explicit, 'adult' text messages on her phone. The unsolicited texts were delivered to her via Facebook, whose ... systems believed the number still belonged to its previous owner. Abrams was forced to shell out 10 cents for every message, and eventually became fed up and sued the social networking site. (Source: wirelessweek.com ) Ms. Abrams' lawyers had hoped to extend the allegations into a class action lawsuit claiming that thousands of unsolicited texts were ... (view more)