4/24/99
Dear freinds and fellow Modular Reality consultants,
I haven't made many updates to this page since I started full time work again. I am a workaholic with high I/Q and low self-esteem. Combined with my daily commute it leaves little time to do much upkeep.
here is what's been happening;
I bought a new computer after running out of chicken wire for my dear old 486. Being thrifty I bought an under $500 dollar PC. It does what I need it to do, and will last me until this whole internet / computer fad is over.
I added a local earthlink dial-up to my internet connection to take advantage of the higher baud rate. The increase has been substantial, but this is because I live close to both the telco and the network access. Unfortunately the increase in spam has also been substantial.
What they say ... |
What they really mean |
| THIS IS ABSOLUTELY LEGAL! | They never bothered to read the U.S Postal Inspectors statements on chain letters. |
| Our bulk e-mail software brings millions of potential customers right to you. | You can annoy millions of potential enemies... |
| "AS SEEN ON NATIONAL TV" | ...in a consumer fraud segment. Note they never mention which actual show or when it was aired. |
| EARN UP TO $ 100,000 IN YOUR SPARE TIME! | Only if you are a convicted felon doing back to back life sentences. |
| IMPORTANT-- DO NOT alter the names of the people who are listed next to each report, or their sequence on the list, | Ignore the fact that my name is at the top of the list, or the three PO boxes are in my home town. |
Most of the spam I receive now includes standard legal blurbs like "For list removal, please type REMOVE in the subject field and send to takeofflist@mymail.com".
however most of these messages include invalid return addresses causing undeliverable error notices. Thus trying to remove myself in the suggested manner causes this confusing array of replies;
... while talking to
mailhub.mymail.com.:
>>> RCPT To:<takeofflist@mymail.com>
<<< 550 <takeofflist@mymail.com>... User unknown
... while talking to
poold.apexmail.com.:
>>> RCPT To:<globalremove@apexmail.com>
<<< 550 <globalremove@apexmail.com> User Doesn't Exist.
... while talking to
uymail-com.mr.outblaze.com.:
>>> RCPT To:<reovmenow@uymail.com>
<<< 550 <reovmenow@uymail.com>... Mailbox disabled for this recipient
... while talking to
poold.apexmail.com.:
>>> RCPT To:<psychictrash@apexmail.com>
<<< 550 <psychictrash@apexmail.com> User Doesn't Exist
These are not typo's. In examing the headers of many of these messages I find they are coming from domains not listed in the message body. Most of the "Apexmail" messages are actually coming from the Netherlands or Denmark.
One message included a web link to what it claimed was a safe and secure entry form for accesss to submit credit product inquiry. Actually it created a local submit page which submitted the fields to a form mail cgi script. When I submitted the form with blank information the return error in the URL toolbar pointed to the originator as a prodigy account. SSL encryption was never enabled.