Search Headquarters : Computers : Internet : E-mail : Spam : News and Media : 2001

E-mails laden with real news — and rumors
The stock market was plummeting Monday. Everything was crazy. And as if that weren't enough, Salomon Smith Barney in Alexandria, Va., was inundated with strange phone calls. [USA Today]
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2001/09/20/ebrief.htm

BBC News: EU laws target junk mail spam
Consumers across Europe who have been plagued by junk e-mails and phone messages are being told that new laws are on the way to control them. (December 12, 2001)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1706221.stm

Wired: Axed Intel Man Loses E-Mail Case
Kourosh Kenneth Hamidi remains barred from targeting Intel employees with bulk e-mail. (December 12, 2001)
http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2001/12/49031

Wired: Wham, Bam, Thank You Spam
A small claims court judge in Bellevue, Washington, awarded Bennett Haselton $2,000 for getting spam. (December 12, 2001)
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2001/12/49089

Wired: Plenty of Spam for the Holidays
Attention, spamees: Don't take your hand off the delete key. Indications are that plenty more spam is on its wa (December 10, 2001)
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2001/12/48481

CNN: Euro ministers agree on spam 'n' cookies
European telecommunication ministers have agreed that unsolicited e-mail and wireless text messages should be prohibited under a new data protection law. (December 7, 2001)
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/internet/12/07/euro.spam.cookies.idg/index.html

Mobile Tech Today: Japanese Giant Mounts New Wireless Spam Offensive
DoCoMo said it has requested permission to block any e-mail sent to large numbers of invalid e-mail addresses. (November 6, 2001)
http://www.mobile-tech-today.com/perl/story/14612.html

Hackers, Spammers May Be Punished as Terrorists
Theoretically, because violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 have been included in the terrorism crackdown, hackers and spammers could be sentenced to life in prison. [News Factor] (September 27, 2001)
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/13792.html

Spam Report: U.S. Regulators Ignore Most Junk E-Mail
To date, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has only gone after spam in cases in which deceptive advertising was being prosecuted. Unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) itself, regardless of its contents, has not been a target. [E-Commerce News] (September 19, 2001)
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/13397.html

Wired: When Tragedy Hits, So Does Spam
Before the rubble had even stopped smoking from Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C., spammers were trying to capitalize on the tragedy. (September 13, 2001)
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2001/09/46775

Euro spam vote in limbo
The European parliament has bungled its latest attempt to outlaw spam. [The Register] (September 7, 2001)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/09/07/euro_spam_vote_in_limbo/

Anti-spam group makes up with pollster
A controversial anti-spam group agrees to remove a polling and market research firm from its database of suspected junk e-mailers. [C|Net] (August 22, 2001)
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-272039.html

Fixing a Hole Where Spam Comes In
ISPs are battling rogue spammers lurking in the back alleys and hidden corners of their networks. As the fighting heats up, more and more legitimate e-mail is getting blocked along with the junk. [Wired] (July 19, 2001)
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2001/07/45343

Europe bottles spam ban
A European committee has blocked plans to outlaw unsolicited commercial email dealing a major blow to anti-spam supporters. [The Register] (July 11, 2001)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/07/11/europe_bottles_spam_ban/

CNET.com: Inside the spammer's world
Recent court decisions upholding laws against unsolicited e-mails will increasingly focus attention on a few individuals who send out the majority of such unwanted advertising messages. (June 29, 2001)
http://news.cnet.com/2010-1071-281499.html

Backlash for the blacklist
Skinny DuBaud's take on the demise of former spam relay blacklister ORBS. [C-NET] (June 8, 2001)
http://news.cnet.com/2011-1088-277830.html

Mobile Tech Today: Cell-Phone Spam Figures in Patent Request
'The federal E911 regulations have precipitated a flurry of privacy issues, as well as concerns that consumer wireless devices will be bombarded with unsolicited messages.' (June 8, 2001)
http://www.mobile-tech-today.com/perl/story/11097.html

Apocryphal E-Mail Bedevils Va. Sender
She meant well. That's what Rose Lambert tells herself every morning when her e-mail folder begins to bulge with missives from around the globe, and she starts to slip again into her deep, private hell. [Washington Post] (May 17, 2001)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A36923-2001May16&notFound=true

Can Spam Ever Be Stopped?
Activists decry a loophole in proposed U.S. anti-spam laws that would allow each spammer to send one unsolicited e-mail before an ISP could take action against the spammer. [E-Commerce Times] (May 14, 2001)
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/9581.html

The Register: ORBS' death
Alan Brown makes a short response to the news that ORBS is shutting down. (May 6, 2001)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/06/05/orbs_death_alan_brown_replies/

A Third of Work E-Mail Wastes Time
A new study finds at least 34 percent of e-mail messages at work contain irrelevant information. [ABCNEWS.com] (April 20, 2001)
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=97091

Privacy advocates say amended spam bill lacks teeth
When rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) introduced legislation in February to prevent or greatly reduce unsolicited commercial e-mail, commonly known as spam, privacy advocates cheered and then lent their support. But then some trade associations complained, and shortly thereafter the bill was amended in a congressional committee, and stripped of some of its enforcement strengths. [InfoWorld] (April 17, 2001)
http://archive.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/04/17/010417hnadvocates.xml

Walking the Line Between E-Mail and Spam
Getting people to say yes to marketing e-mails, and then getting them the messages that are most likely to make them buy, is a thriving industry of its own. [E-Commerce Times] (April 17, 2001)
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/8966.html

MSN opts for Brightmail anti-spam defence
MSN has signed up with Brightmail to stop its email users getting spammed. The ISP will offer its five million email users in the US the option of Brightmail's Anti-Spam Solution. [The Register] (April 12, 2001)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/04/12/msn_opts_for_brightmail_antispam/

Mobile Tech Today: U.S. Legislation Targets Wireless Spam
Holt's wireless phone bill, referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, specifically prohibits the use of wireless phones' text, graphic or image messaging systems to transmit unsolicited commercial messages. (March 28, 2001)
http://www.mobile-tech-today.com/perl/story/8519.html

Spammers face felony charges
Californians Michael Persaud, 24, of San Diego and Frank Kriticos, 25, of Santee will answer felony criminal charges of spamming and so earn the distinction of being the first people so charged in that state, according to a story in the local Union Tribune newspaper. [The Register] (March 15, 2001)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/03/15/spammers_face_felony_charges/

eBay sellers say new anti-spam system is backfiring
The auction giant's new system that was designed to limit spam is forcing some sellers to weed through even more junk mail to find legitimate messages from bidders. [c|net] (February 27, 2001)
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1017-253251.html

Spam Oozes Past Border Patrol
Last week, Reps. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) and Gene Green (D-Texas) reintroduced a bill they claimed "empowers consumers and their ISP with the ability to protect both their privacy and their resources" by restricting unsolicited commercial e-mail. [Wired] (February 23, 2001)
http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2001/02/41860

U.S. representatives mount attack on spam
A bill designed to give consumers and ISPs greater control over a flood of unwanted e-mail, commonly known as spam, was introduced Wednesday by the same U.S. representatives who sponsored the legislation in the last Congress. [CNN] (February 16, 2001)
http://edition.cnn.com/2001/TECH/internet/02/16/attack.on.spam.idg/index.html

Data protection: "Junk" e-mail costs internet users 10 billion a year worldwide
Internet subscribers world-wide are unwittingly paying an estimated €10 billion a year in connection costs just to receive "junk" e-mails, according to a study undertaken for the European Commission. (February 2, 2001)
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/01/154

Official: Spam costs E10 billion
Spam costs Net users a whopping E10 billion ($9.33 billion) a year, according to the European Commission. [The Register] (February 2, 2001)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/02/02/official_spam_costs_e10_billion/

Spam filters may feed Web marketing
Some popular free Web services are playing both sides of the fence when it comes to protecting consumers from pesky marketers, offering to block junk e-mail while they help advertisers push promotions into customers' in-boxes. [CNET.com] (January 25, 2001)
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-251555.html

New Battle Strategies Heat Up War On Spam
Some say the only way to stop the spread of e-mail Spam is to charge e-mail users a fee -- but the strategy has failed to stem the tide of regular junk mail. [NewsFactor] (January 24, 2001)
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/7217.html

UK marketeers to challenge EU email ban
The British marketing industry has begun the fight back against European Union proposals to ban all unsolicited emails. [Guardian Unlimited] (January 19, 2001)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4119516,00.html

Hotmail spam filters block outgoing e-mail
Ben Johnson has been sending e-mail for months from his Hotmail account, but he just discovered that some of them were diverted to the trash before arriving at their destination. [CNET.com] (January 18, 2001)
http://news.cnet.com/2009-1023-251171.html

Spammer Gets Spammed
[Slashdot] (January 18, 2001)
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/01/18/1645243

Infamous Spammer Spammed
In what some see as a perfect example of the evidence of cosmic retribution, an avalanche of spam has crashed British Internet service provider Pipex's servers, and stopped delivery of e-mail to its million-plus users for the past week. [Wired] (January 17, 2001)
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2001/01/41239

Spammer wrecks UUNet email service
UUNet customers have been left stranded without access to their email for the last 36 hours after the outfit took a "very big hit" from spammers earlier this week. [The Register] (January 12, 2001)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/01/12/spammer_wrecks_uunet_email_service/

Europe warms to spam ban
Lobbyists for the European Internet industry believe their campaign for a ban on spam is gaining momentum. [The Register] (January 11, 2001)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/01/11/europe_warms_to_spam_ban/

Bill aims to block wireless junk email
In our wireless world, can solicitors find you anywhere within cell range if you have a data-ready wireless phone turned on? [CNET.com] (January 10, 2001)
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1033-250796.html

What Was EBay's E-Mail Motive?
EBay is either a scheming marketing company or an innocent victim of mass paranoia launched by a well-intentioned e-mail it sent to its users. [Wired] (January 10, 2001)
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2001/01/41116

EBay E-mail Makes Users 'Bidder'
Auction site eBay has apparently decided that users of its service who said no really meant yes. So, in an attempt to "help" its users, the company has informed many of them, by e-mail, that their marketing preferences were automatically being changed. [Wired] (January 9, 2001)
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2001/01/41086

U.S. Gains in War Against 'Spam' Fraud
In ongoing investigations, the FTC and Project Mailbox found that many unsolicited e-mail sweepstakes offerings, travel offers and work-at-home schemes are fraudulent. [NewsFactor] (January 5, 2001)
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/6508.html

Evil spammers jailed for two years
Two Los Angeles men are to go to jail for their part in a bulk email scam which duped 12,000 people and severely impacted the operations of several large US ISPs. [The Register] (January 3, 2001)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/01/03/evil_spammers_jailed_for_two/