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Spambuster vows to help wipe out spam plague

Guest post by: Dennis Schooley

Article Overview: Email spammers, beware. Whatever you do make sure your emails don’t end up in the inbox of Daniel Balsam or you would certainly end up in court.

Spambuster vows to help wipe out spam plague

If there's one thing the San Francisco-based lawyer hates, it's spam. And if there's one thing he loves it's to sue email spammers. The online marketer-cum-attorney (he actually quit his marketing job to take up law and be a full-time spambuster) has already won 42 cases "and many more cases are in various stages of development," he writes on his website, aptly named "danhatesspam.com."

Balsam says he is making a decent living out of his loathing for spam. He has racked up over $1 million from his wins and lawsuit settlements.

Reportedly, his colleagues are not happy, some of them at least. Maybe they think Balsam spends more time suing people than actually assisting his clients. But then again, representing other people wasn't his main purpose for pursuing a degree in law; it's to study the intricacies of the law so he could use it for his crusade: cleaning up the Internet of spam.

That's a noble mission, some might agree, although some of his colleagues think he is merely exploiting spam and the law to make a living.

Spam constitutes 90 percent of all emails, according to a report released by the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG). That was in February 2010. By September, Panda Security's third quarter report estimates spam emails to be at 95 percent.

With that much junk mails in cyberspace, Balsam's critics may think his anti-spam crusade is not doing considerable damage to global spam operations. Still, purging the Internet of spam plague - emails peddling anything from Viagra to penis pumps to get-rich-quick schemes - has to start somewhere, and Balsam seems quite content with his own contribution.

"My objective in getting into this was - and still is - to increase the spammers' cost of doing business. Maybe then the spammers won't falsify headers, and maybe they'll think twice before spamming even after a recipient unsubscribes, and maybe the legitimate and "quasi-legitimate" marketers will think twice before purchasing lists of allegedly opt-in email addresses. If lots of people start suing the spammers, and the principals that benefit from spamming, maybe it'll make a difference," he writes on his website.

So how did his passion for hating spam start? Apparently, it all started when Balsam got fed up upon seeing his inbox flooded by emails that claimed he could enlarge his breasts in no time.

Today, the spambuster mostly sues firms that violate California's anti-spam law which prohibits, among other things, companies that send spam with misleading headers. Such type of spam leads recipients into thinking the email is noncommercial. California's anti-spam law also requires companies to allow recipients to "opt out" of receiving any more emails from them.

"The spam volume is growing so high - and some of the content is so offensive - that spam is actually threatening the legitimacy of email as a means for communication. I've sent emails to clients and potential clients that were deleted, because the recipient thought that they might have been spam," Balsam says.

Since aside from commercial purposes, spam is also used to spread malware in cyberspace, Balsam's most basic advice to web users is to "never double-click an attachment you don't recognize, especially if there's a .zlo or .exe in the filename, even if it appears that Yahoo or Paypal is requesting account update information."

Balsam's website also includes useful tips like How to Track a Spammer and news about spam.

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Article Tags: internet, security, spam, virus



Related Forum Posts
Re: When is your interest peaked by unsolicited mail? - 99% of the time if it's in your spam box then it is spam. At least for me it is. A quick glance before you empty your spam box and you can usually catch any legit ones that might have accidentally gone there. It's usually pretty easy to tell if something is spam or not. Even the really good ones that try hard to make it look legit have something about them that just doesn't seem right before you open it.
Re: Building Links By Spamming Forums - Hi Jeff, Thanks for your thoughts on the subject. I'm in agreement that any spam is bad spam, no matter how "useful" it may be for some. If we become lenient with some forms of spam, it will only allow for more people to push the envelope to see how much they can get away with. We shouldn't tolerate it... period. And, speaking of spam, I'm smelling some right here in this thread.
Re: How Do You Fight Spam? - There are several ways in which you can stop spam: Client side: you can configure your email client to move spam to the junk mail, and you can do this by blocking their domain, some clients will even allow you to block ip blocks. Server side: you can set your server to have a white list, that can control spam before it gets to your inbox.
Re: What was the biggest hurdle? - Haha, luckily I found that thread before I found this one. Thanks for the redirect! I posted my biggest hurdles over there and I enjoyed reading some of everyone else's hurdles. It really brings home some of the issues that plague us as entrepreneurs from the outset of any successful venture.
Please delete spam posts! - I've seen a lot of spam posts go un-deleted. I've even seen moderators reply to such posts as if they are legit. A big part of a moderators job is to delete spam and keep the boards clean. Let's all make sure we are doing that. * If someone posts the exact same thing several different times, or a slight variation of it... it's spam. * If a new members post has a self-promotional or affiliate link in it... it's spam. * If someone writes a post for the sole purpose of getting people to click on the link in the post or in their signature... it's spam. * Sometimes people get creative and try to disguise their spam as a legitimate post. Do not be fooled. You can usually tell if you try. * Spammers also like to copy legit posts or articles from other people and then go post them on forums just so they can get their signature shown. They look legit so you have to be on the lookout for them. If it looks suspicious just take a sentence from it and paste it into Google. If a bunch of exact copies come up it's probably spam. If you are the moderator of the forum it is posted in then please delete it. If you aren't then please click the button to report it so the moderator of that section will know about it.


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