Outlawing free email

[vraiblonde]

I'm surprised legislators haven't thought of this in response to the overwhelming amount of spam that clogs up the internet.

99.99999% of all spam comes from a free email account - Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. - because spammers know using their primary email address to send spam will get them caught.

99.99999% of all internet connections come with an email box. So it's not like you HAVE to have some freebie account in order to send and receive email.

Even Gmail is becoming a spammer tool. You need an invitaion from another member in order to get an account of your own. This was supposed to cut down on abuse. But it only takes one spammer to get a Gmail account, then they send out invitations to other spammers, who send to other spammers, and now the whole initial idea is kaput.

We offer free email through Google on Somd.com, but we manually process account requests. If you're from outside the US, you're not getting an account. If you come to us from a blacklisted ISP, you're out of luck.

I don't see why other providers can't take these precautions.

Discuss.

 

[mAlice]

Can I renew my somd email? I forgot all about it.

 

[GWguy]

Discuss.

Basically, that has merit. The only place I can see that someone might have a valid complaint are those students, low income, etc, that don't have computers and rely on libraries or similar for access.

 

[vraiblonde]

Basically, that has merit. The only place I can see that someone might have a valid complaint are those students, low income, etc, that don't have computers and rely on libraries or similar for access.

Students typically get an email address from their college.

Libraries can give out email accounts to their users.

The vast majority of spam comes from overseas - we get IPs from Amsterdam, Brazil, Mauritania....all over the place. You can't block foreign IPs across the board, and you can't stop other countries from providing free email. But we can stop free, unfettered email in the US. Then it's easier to filter on your own computer and it's easier for services (such as the Somd.com forums) to block spammer registrations.

Again, most of our spammer registrations have a Yahoo or Hotmail address, and I have to run down the IP to know whether to delete them or approve them.

 

[vraiblonde]

Can I renew my somd email? I forgot all about it.

Don't renew the somd.net account - those suck but we can't discontinue the service while people are using it.

Our new free email is MUCH better:
http://www.somd.us/

However, like I said above, we do moderate registrations to keep it spam-free. So it might take a day or so to have the account activated.

 

[thejteam]

No need for legislation

There is no need for legislation. ISPs can accomplish the same thing by blocking all incoming email from a specific domain. Don't want to receive Yahoo mail... block it. Same with hotmail, gmail, etc...

Your ISP doesn't block it? Use an email program that allows you to set up your own filters. They are available free/cheap. Or move to an ISP that blocks it for you.

Free enterprise at work.

 

[GWguy]

Students typically get an email address from their college. True.

Libraries can give out email accounts to their users. Didn't know that, never go to the library!!

The vast majority of spam comes from overseas - we get IPs from Amsterdam, Brazil, Mauritania....all over the place. You can't block foreign IPs across the board, and you can't stop other countries from providing free email. But we can stop free, unfettered email in the US. Then it's easier to filter on your own computer and it's easier for services (such as the Somd.com forums) to block spammer registrations.

Again, most of our spammer registrations have a Yahoo or Hotmail address, and I have to run down the IP to know whether to delete them or approve them.

Run it up the flagpole, maybe to our local congressmen. It actually is a good idea.

 

[vraiblonde]

Don't want to receive Yahoo mail... block it. Same with hotmail, gmail, etc...

The problem with that is there are too many people who use it legitimately. If you block all Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail accounts on your computer, you're going to lose a lot of email that you want.

And if ISPs did that there'd be hell to pay. They'd have to hire a hundred people just to field the support phone calls from people who aren't receiving email from their family, friends, etc.

 

[vraiblonde]

The problem with that is there are too many people who use it legitimately. If you block all Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail accounts on your computer, you're going to lose a lot of email that you want.

And if ISPs did that there'd be hell to pay. They'd have to hire a hundred people just to field the support phone calls from people who aren't receiving email from their family, friends, etc.

It's like our Somd.net email. We'd like to get rid of it but there are too many people using it to just do away with it.

 

[aps45819]

There is no need for legislation. ISPs can accomplish the same thing by blocking all incoming email from a specific domain. Don't want to receive Yahoo mail... block it. Same with hotmail, gmail, etc....

Verizon DSL comes through a Yahoo account.

 

[mAlice]

Don't renew the somd.net account - those suck but we can't discontinue the service while people are using it.

Our new free email is MUCH better:
http://www.somd.us/

However, like I said above, we do moderate registrations to keep it spam-free. So it might take a day or so to have the account activated.

That's fine. Might be a day or two before I get around to it. :buried:

 

[Chain729]

Verizon DSL comes through a Yahoo account.

Or MSN, depending on what package you picked. Thing is, it's the upgraded (paid) account. If they did away with their free service, you'd accomplish what Vrai is suggesting and still keep Yahoo/Hotmail.

I'm not switching to my @verizon e-mail account. My hotmail and gmail accounts have been around too long, are well established and used for a number of subscriptions- some of which I can't change.

I use different accounts for different things. I like to keep things seperated because it's easier to organize without one thing bleeding into another. If I had to pay to do that, I wouldn't like it.

 

[GWguy]

Or MSN, depending on what package you picked. Thing is, it's the upgraded (paid) account. If they did away with their free service, you'd accomplish what Vrai is suggesting and still keep Yahoo/Hotmail.

I'm not switching to my @verizon e-mail account. My hotmail and gmail accounts have been around too long, are well established and used for a number of subscriptions- some of which I can't change.

I use different accounts for different things. I like to keep things seperated because it's easier to organize without one thing bleeding into another. If I had to pay to do that, I wouldn't like it.

I used to think that too, but my Verizon account can have up to 10 separate email accounts. Gave one to my Dad, the others I use as need be, put them up or take them down as needed. Nice thing there is that they are not "free" accounts, so would not be subject to being turned off as in Vrai's concept, and they are eventually all linked to the master account for accountability.

 

[microcomputer]

The main way SPAMer's get your e-mail address is by harvesting them off of the InterNet. They have crawlers that just go out to every URL available and look for e-mail addresses. If you e-mail address is posted anywhere on the net - you are a prime target for getting SPAM. I was messing around with my site and put up a Guestbook Entry with an e-mail address to my domain. I captured that e-mail address and within a week I had received 47 SPAM messages! The ONLY way they could have gotten it was from one single Guestbook Entry.

I then created a webpage with out any e-mail addresses posted. However, I did include (made up another unique e-mail address to my domain) but only included it in one of my Meta Tags - you got it...they captured it and I started getting SPAM E-Mail to that e-mail address.

 

[Pete]

it really pizzes me off so I would vote for instant death penalty for spammers. I have my home email that I give to people and I have a yahoo email I use to register for things or on forms. My yahoo account is blasted everyday but now my home email is as well and I never use it for anything internet related. I have tried filters, rules wizard deleting anything penis, viagra, cialis, errection or anything from a foreign url and they still get through. Cialis, viagra, stock tips, free vacations, Bank Of America phishers, PayPal phishers, it goes on and on and on.

Shoot them all and let Bill Gates sort them out.

 

[GWguy]

it really pizzes me off so I would vote for instant death penalty for spammers. I have my home email that I give to people and I have a yahoo email I use to register for things or on forms. My yahoo account is blasted everyday but now my home email is as well and I never use it for anything internet related. I have tried filters, rules wizard deleting anything penis, viagra, cialis, errection or anything from a foreign url and they still get through. Cialis, viagra, stock tips, free vacations, Bank Of America phishers, PayPal phishers, it goes on and on and on.

Shoot them all and let Bill Gates sort them out.

I've been pretty fortunate. Verizon does a very good job of filtering for me, and my Thunderbird email client catches whatever Verizon doesn't. I get maybe 2-3 spams in my inbox a day that I have to manually delete. However, most of my friends get flooded. I'm pretty careful about where and how my email addy gets used. Not a guarantee, but it's been working so far....

 

[vanbells]

99.99999% of all spam comes from a free email account - Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. - because spammers know using their primary email address to send spam will get them caught.

That might not be entirely true. E-mail information can be spoofed.

 

[Pete]

I've been pretty fortunate. Verizon does a very good job of filtering for me, and my Thunderbird email client catches whatever Verizon doesn't. I get maybe 2-3 spams in my inbox a day that I have to manually delete. However, most of my friends get flooded. I'm pretty careful about where and how my email addy gets used. Not a guarantee, but it's been working so far....

I have Verizon and they don't stop crap I get 15-20 a day. I have Norton internet security and the last version had a decent screener, when I upgraded it stinks.

I set the rules wizard to automatically delete anything that had certain words in text so now they use images or HTML. They even hit my work email. This morning I got a really nice one that said "When I am pounding my girlfriend I used to slip out a lot. Since I started using whateverc0ckgrowingherb I don't and she loves it."

 

[vraiblonde]

That might not be entirely true. E-mail information can be spoofed.

Most ISPs batten down their hatches so unauthorized people can't relay through their network. Those that don't are typically blacklisted.

 

[kom526]

I used hotmail for all correspondence regarding our class reunion and I think I only got 2 pieces of spam. Of course it was for "wonderc-m" for massive explosions and cheap photoshop software. My metrocast account does a good job of filtering, it saves it as a separate email and asks if I want to preview the sender and subject without opening.

My Yahoo account...forget it. That account is like a black hole for spam. It's nothing to have over 20 new "bulk" messages in a 24 hour period.