Phil
29th Nov 2004, 02:52 pm
Lycos have got a New Tool (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4051553.stm) that aims to fight spam websites. It's a screensaver that pulls data from sites connected to spam, with the intention of having their servers running at full capacity and hence cost them more to run.
Sounds a bit like corporation sponored denial of service, though it only pulls a limited amount a day (about 3-4Mb). The sites chosen are picked from Spamcops blacklist.
I can't decide if this a good idea or a stupid idea. It's would be nice to think that your machine is doing some good for the overall net community at night, but isn't it just adding more unnecessary junk to the internet infrastructure? Also, don't these sites have a right to exist even if we don't like their selling methods? And how long will it be before this ready made zombie army gets subverted?
Sounds a bit like corporation sponored denial of service, though it only pulls a limited amount a day (about 3-4Mb). The sites chosen are picked from Spamcops blacklist.
I can't decide if this a good idea or a stupid idea. It's would be nice to think that your machine is doing some good for the overall net community at night, but isn't it just adding more unnecessary junk to the internet infrastructure? Also, don't these sites have a right to exist even if we don't like their selling methods? And how long will it be before this ready made zombie army gets subverted?