Lycos make DDoS screensaver to fight spam

[Elbonio]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4051553.stm

A screensaver that sends requests to websites mentioned in spam e-mails (online pharmacies etc)

a sort of wierd blend between distributed computing, denial of service attacks and a way of preventing monitor damage.


edit: to get the screensaver & for more info goto http://makelovenotspam.com/intl


also try out the "annoy a spammer" button - shows you where on the map they just requested a page from and how much bandwidth they've caused them to use so far

weeeee - that button is fun!

[Tsung]

Mmmmm, how bizzare.. So what stops me "Mr Average Joe User" from creating a spam email along the lines of "Get your Viagra HERE", then stick a link to any site I wish to "take down" (eg. www.micro$oft.com). I then spam that message over the net. The good people at Lycos might catch it, but if they don't their software will cause M$ major headaches.. (Ok m$ isnt a good example, but maybe a private individual who has annoyed me)
Or even better, I setup the website and everything so when lycos checks it is indeed a genuine looking site. Then once my traffic starts going up, I re-route the traffic (change DNS) to another site I dont like.. :rolleyes:

Generally fighting fire with fire is not a good idea... :|

[Elbonio]

they have only 6 or 7 sites at a time, carefully monitored by real people to make sure they're genuine


i doubt a real site could ever be caught up in it


i wonder what the legal implications of this are?

[bvark]

I give this about 96 hours before the network providers hosting the spamvertised websites who are targetted by these attacks start cease-and-desisting.

[Er00]

I swear this has been around a few days at least, heard about it before....hmmm...

[Pingman]

where on that site is the screen saver lol!

[Elbonio]

the big "DOWNLOAD THE SCREENSAVER" button

[Kahless]

You need to allow the pop-up box when you click the country if you are running SP2