[Asrg] Re: Viruses

[Bruce Stephens <Bruce.Stephens@isode.com>]

Barry Shein <bzs@world.std.com> writes:

[...]

> I maintain that the primary problem with spam right now is caused by
> the hijacking of systems (demonstrably) by the hundreds (probably much
> more) to spew spam.

Is there evidence to support this?  (My apologies if it's already been
quoted.)

> I further maintain that without these hijacked systems spammers would
> be ineffective, a relatively minor nuisance.
>
> There are good, structural reasons why this is the case:
>
> a) Spamming does not provide the sort of margin needed to purchase and
> maintain the equipment they seem to rely on. Therefore, they must
> steal it.
>
> b) Even if they could acquire such equipment, and concomitant
> bandwidth, it would of necessity be located in a relatively static
> location (e.g., ip addresses), and, so, relatively easy to just block.

I must admit, my gut feeling suggests that these two points ought to
be true.  And yet I suspect they aren't: I suspect spamming is cheap
enough, and that there's just enough demand, that some spammers can
indeed make a profit relatively legitimately.

[...]


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