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Unfortunately, spamm is getting so dog-goned predictable. And, most of it appears to be pushing either p0rn, or pills, or Ponzi schemes of one form or another. And, in some cases, it will also install code on your computer which will cause your PC to send out even more spamm...

Anyway, normally I simply delete the "3 Ps" type spamm, after noting the originating IP (in case I want to nuke the spammer.) However, I have recently picked up one of those electronic leash thingies, which allows me to read me email from whatever point in the space-time continuum in boB's creation I happen to be at when it arrives. And, in its attempt to be helpful, it automatically opens the email and displays it to me (and also sends read-receipts: but that is the topic for another rant.)

So, yesterday, while I was riding the bus with nothing better to do, I got a pill-pushing spamm. Since I don't normally read them, I wasn't quite ready for the eyeful that awaited me.

So, without further ado: the spamm!

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The whole "Nigeria 419" thing is truly taking on an international flavor. Almost every day I get some form of business proposition, where I am offered the opportunity to turn over all my $$$$MONEY$$$$$ and offer up my bank account as a tool for laundering some humongous amount of ill-gotten loot, in the hope some of it might stick the the account. Of course, as we all know, the object of the exercise is for the Lads to get all of your $$$$MONEY$$$$$ via "special fees", not for them to actually give you any of theirs.

Well, back on 1 May I received a new variant of the same old scam, from a whole new country even! So, it will go in my 419 collection, and to commemorate the event, I decided to skewer it right here for you.

So, without further ado: The spamm!

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According to the SANS/ISC diary entry for May 11,

"Rumor has it that Microsoft will re-release the MS9 security update in June, 2005 correcting their removal of raw sockets..."

While I don't know if this is true or not (and none of us will know, until the second Tuesday in June), it is certainly an interesting reversal of position for Microsoft. I guess that Fyodor of NMAP fame and other writers of security tools that Microsoft screwed with when they put this "feature" in the MS9 patch must have gotten to them. I don't know for certain that MS did this to push sales of Windows Server 2003 (remember, they blocked raw sockets in Windows XP, saying that apps using raw sockets should migrate to Win2003), but if it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck... DUCK! Of course, this will be cold comfort to the thousands... AND THOUSANDS!... of network and system admins who will have to re-apply this new patch to regain functionality they should never have lost in the first place!

I hope Microsoft, and other vendors, will learn a lesson from this: it is just not a good idea to put non-security related "features" into security patches.

OK, so they can't leave well enough alone. It seems that the Houston Chronicle and Bill O'Reilly are engaged in a sort of editorial pissing contest over this new "Jessica's Law" that was recently passed in Florida. As you remember, I have commented on this law myself, in an earlier blog entry. Well, it appears that (in this instance, at least) the Chronical's editorial staff and I are in agreement. And, of course, that means that Bill O'Reilly and the Chronicle aren't. No big surprise there.

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"Jessica's Law", the new sex-offender law passed by the State of Florida in the wake of the kidnapping/murder of Jessica Lunsford by a registered sex offender, looks to me to be another case of good indications driving bad law -- the legal equivalent of having your heart in the right place, but your head squarely planted up your... well, you know what I mean.

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And, last night, it became three. In the game of musical chairs, where a guaranteed recording contract is the prize, Anthony Federov was the one left standing when the music stopped. That leaves Bo, Carrie, and Vonzell as the "final three." I am not entirely convinced that Anthony was the right one to go (Vonzell's emotional display following her first performance, along with the quality of said performance, was probably the low-point of the show), but I can live with the results (of course I can -- I am only a spectator!)

To be perfectly honest, I think Anthony is darn lucky to have made it this far. In my opinion, he should have been gone last week, but first we had to vote Scott off the show. Anthony is an OK singer, but not really at the same level as the top performers (who, in my opinion, are Bo and Carrie -- sorry, Vonzell.)

Next week, we narrow the field down to the Final Two. Who will go home, and who will be the one to grab the brass ring? That show ought to be interesting!

Every so often, it is necessary (though not always desireable) to just go out and mess around with something, even if it works. Well, this is one of those times for this site. I was introduced to b2evolution, a blogging package available under the GPL, by a compatriot on another web site. One of the neat features this has is an antispamm filter, where you can obliterate and blacklist the comment spamm that pervades blogs and news sites with a simple click. Much easier than cleaning it out of the backend DBs, for sure!

In addition, this site really isn't so much a news site as it is a blog, but the current CMS (PHP-Nuke) is really designed for news sites.

Anyway, bear with me, it will take some time to get this all settled in, but I do hope that in the end it is worth it.

Cheers,
-etee