Lycos: go get 'em

MrSelf · Post by **MrSelf** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:28 pm

http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=71117

Technology News, Lycos is nurturing its own zombie army in a bid to bring down the world's most notorious spammers - with a screensaver called 'Make love not spam' Lycos is offering its customers a screensaver that helps to launch distributed denial-of-service attacks on spammers' Web sites. The controversial move is designed to use the idle processing power of a computer to slow down the response times from spammers' Web sites.

"Lycos has been trying to position itself in the fight against spam," said Wessel Van Rensburg, product manager of communications for Lycos. "It launches tonight in the UK. It aims to use our community to fight spam. It uses idle computer power and sends requests to spam sites."
On its Web site, Lycos, which claims to have an army of more than 66,000 computers, says it has already attacked several Web sites, slowing one down by 85 percent of its operating speed. The software is open to Windows and Mac users.

The company said that when the screensaver is active it displays the location and URL of the sites users' PCs are attacking, and that Lycos decides the Web sites it will attack.
A spokesman for the company said: "This gives Internet users the opportunity to hit spammers where it hurts. Sending spam is not a minor misdemeanour, as spam causes billions of pounds of damage to the economy. This is why we are upping the ante in the fight against those responsible for spam."

But DDoS attacks are illegal in a many countries and some organisations have criticised the move. Steve Linford, director of non-profit anti-spam organisation Spamhaus, has dedicated the last eight years of his life to fighting spammers. He said that Lycos has failed to think the idea through.

"It's irresponsible of Lycos to put its name to it because it lends legitimacy to [DDoS] attacks," said Linford. "You can't break into a thief's house just because he breaks into yours. We don't support this or recommend this practice. Directing traffic is part of the degradation of the Internet we are trying to stop."

On its Web log, security company F-Secure also warned users away from the idea.
In its 'make love not spam' campaign, Lycos entices users to join the zombie army with the following message:
"Are you sick of getting unwanted messages in your inbox? Here's your chance to join the fight against spam as now you too can get involved. Download the Make Love not Spam screensaver - the only screensaver that actively works to stop the spammers - and tell your friends to do the same to spread the love."

I'm not sure if we in America can even get to the site (http://makelovenotspam.com/intl)

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:54 pm

Good stuff. That's why hacking should be legalized, it can be used for good things like this. (they'll legalize pot but not hacking.. what's wrong with this world)

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 7:46 pm

Crap I can't get on the site now, I should of looked at it further before. I told myself I'd come and check later but it's too late.

I definatly want to join this ...umm program.

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sintekk · Post by **sintekk** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 8:53 pm

I wouldn't trust Lycos ever since their 'searchbar' has been sliming onto people's computers (then again, the whole spyware thing might be the US' branch and not the international branch, which seems more benevolent)

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 9:35 pm

That sounds bad... but then again ddos is illegal anyway so it's probably not any better. But fight crime with crime is not a bad idea these days, since it's not like the goverment is doing anything about spam.

The site is still down though, I really wanted to check this out. I wanted to get the addresses, at least and take care of it from there.

Ddos is for pussies, defacements, now that's cool.

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The Gheyness · Post by **The Gheyness** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 12:14 am

I have the feeling this is going to get abused somehow (or they'll end up sued)...so we'll see how long it lasts. :þ

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sintekk · Post by **sintekk** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 9:04 am

Legend wrote: so we'll see how long it lasts. :þ

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/01/0250244&from=rss

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 12:32 pm

I want those URLs so I can participate in this dos attack too! lol

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manadren · Post by **manadren** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 7:01 pm

I don't exactly thin it's a good idea either. I hate spam as much as the next guy, probably more, but stopping as low as DDoS attacks isn't really an appropriate way to handle it. And I wouldn't be surprised if someone managed to turn lycos' efforts against itself.

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 8:14 pm

I'm suprised a big company actually got away (to a certain extent) with it though. But it's good to see someone doing something about spam. I still don't see why they don't just make it illegal. But at least it's against most ISPs so if people take the time to report the ones that can be tracked easly, it will help. When I notice repeat spam I usually report it and find them on a different server, and report them again and again. it might not help much, but it sure makes their lives harder.

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sintekk · Post by **sintekk** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 8:22 pm

Seems to be working:
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/1...221253&from=rss

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 9:12 pm

Good stuff. Still can't get on the makelovenotspam site though.

But I can't wait to see if any legal action will result in this. But even if it works out for a month it will cost those spammers lots during that time and slow down their mail sending operations.

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sintekk · Post by **sintekk** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 1:34 pm

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/04/1417200&from=rss

Whoops.

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The Gheyness · Post by **The Gheyness** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 10:45 pm

haha, that was quick!

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sintekk · Post by **sintekk** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 11:03 pm

Didn't take long for Lycos to be wanged, lol

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MrSelf · Post by **MrSelf** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 1:16 pm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4073547.stm

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sintekk · Post by **sintekk** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 5:26 pm

I wonder if Lycos is going to try a revamped anti-spam system in the future; they say to 'stay tuned'...

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 6:20 pm

Can't wait to see.

Well I'm just so sick of spam, I've been thinking of implimenting something on my server to do something similar to lycos, but in a more legal fashion.

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 11:07 pm

speaking of fighting spam.... http://www.spamcop.net I'm thinking of implimenting this on my server.

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