CDR: Re: Survey meters.

[Bill Stewart]

At 02:18 PM 11/29/00 +0000, Ken Brown wrote:
>I was 99% sure that these posts were some sort of spam-scam, whose
>purpose I didn't quite get.  (Am I falling for it by replying?)
...
>But what if, just what if, it is some crazy snoop trying to fish for
>illegal arms dealers? Are they that crass? Are they that imaginative? Do
>they really have that much time and money to play with? Are these the
>sort of people who have been so successful in getting Iraq to disarm?

I thought it was entertaining - usually we get kiddies trolling
for how to make little b*mbs.  This one's trolling for help in 
making really big ones :-)

My opinions on where most of the abuse comes from range from
- Kiddies who actually want to make b*mbs or other K00L Anarkey Stuff.
	Telling their ISPs or their moms is probably a good approach.
- Kiddies who've got something scrawled on a virtual bathroom wall saying that
	it's fun to tweak the cypherpunks mailing list, kind of like
	kids share which grumpy old neighbor really gets torqued if you
	ring his doorbell and run away.
- Cops, clueless or otherwise, trolling for business.
	Some of them may just be looking for kiddies, or some may actually
	think we're a worthwhile provocateur target.
- Cypherpunks sending Hidden Stego Messages in the b*mb requests :-)
- Variations on the "subscribe the cypherpunks list to lots of spam" guys.

I suspect it's mainly the second group.

				Thanks! 
					Bill
Bill Stewart, bill.stewart at pobox.com
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