MySpace’s chief security officer is quoted today in USA Today proudly saying: “Today we are declaring victory in the war on spam and phishing.” Later in the article, we find out that they are merely claiming to have reduced spam, from 49% to 99.5% (depending on the type). I’m not so sure that’s exactly “victory,” myself. I found Investors Business Daily a bit more believable on the subject, though. In an article which gives an overview of the scope of fraud, they write: More than 1.2 million people filed a complaint of fraud, identity theft or a ... more

OK, I have to admit, that headline just kind of wrote itself. But, while amusing, the facts behind the headline are not amusing in the least. An old worm attack has been born anew on the Facebook and MySpace sites, with devastating consequences. And that is nothing to joke about. From Wired magazine’s website: Attention new viewers: those 5000 “friends” you have on Facebook? They might not actually be your friends. In fact, some of them might be scammers trying to infect your computer with a new virus dubbed “Koobface”. Koobface, which already made the rounds on ... more

Google is just one many companies profiting from spreading blight. Pundits make a fairly convincing case that Google Adsense has been the single largest factor driving the creation of Splogs and MFA Webspam. Googles contribution to Virtual Blight goes beyond monetizing bad content for spammy webmasters. Google provides basic infrastructure and add legitimacy to the hordes of Parasitic Marketers who use deceptive and possibly illegal tactics to make money — while leaving a trail of decimated profiles, devalued web real estate and disgusted users. What’s among the biggest contributor to blight on MySpace? The leagues of sock ... more