INDEPTH: SPAM
Spam Glossary
CBC News Online | August 25, 2004
Bloc list: Lists of spammers created either by internet service providers (ISPs) or by grassroots anti-spam groups.
Cracker: A malicious or criminal programmer who creates malwear such as viruses.
Filter: An e-mail feature that allows users to either kill e-mail or channel it to a special folder.
Flyblogging: Spammers have a found a way to fool blogging software and send spam to blogs disguised as comments on posts by the blog writer or readers. That means ads for drugs or porn sites are showing up in different blogs on all kinds of subjects. The term originated in the U.K. and is based on the expression "fly posting" - where posters are plastered not only on poles but on houses, shop windows, office buildings and road signs.
Grey mail box: When a customer uses an ISP's spam-blocking service or uses a web-based mail system such as Hotmail or Yahoo, suspicious "bulk" mail is sent to a folder called a grey mail box.
Identity theft: Criminals use stolen information, especially social insurance/social security numbers to take over someone's identity in order to obtain new credit cards or other forms of identification for fraud.
Malware: Malicious software, including viruses, worms and Trojans.
Opt-in: A system proposed by direct marketing groups in which someone can choose to receive e-mail ads. Spammers, however, use phony sites to get people to opt in or simply lie and claim a message was sent "at your request."
Phishing/phisher: A fraudulent e-mail message or website asking for personal information that can then be used in identity theft.
Pump and dump: A spammers' twist on an old-fashioned stock scam. A spammer sends out thousands of e-mails touting a stock. If enough people buy the stock, the price goes up, and then the spammer dumps the stock at a profit.
Spim: Spam sent by instant messenger.
Spoofing: A short-term form of identity theft by spammers, who steal someone's e-mail address to send out thousands of e-mails. One lawsuit targeting spammers says spoofing "severely and irreparably damages the business reputation of innocent individuals or companies who are often falsely identified or implicated by the spammer..."
UCEM: Unsolicited commercial e-mail, the acronym for spam.
Zombie drone: When a spammer takes over your computer to send out a few – or thousands – of pieces of e-mail spam, it becomes a zombie drone.
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November 26, 2003:
On CBC Newsworld, David Gray interviews media lawyer Michael Geist from the University of Ottawa Law School about how to tackle spam.
 Real Video
On CBC Newsworld, Christopher Thomas interviews Ontario privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian about how Canada is fighting spam.
Real Video
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