Microsoft Attacks Spam
Microsoft used a US court order to block traffic to 277 .com domains in order to decapitate the command and control capabilities of the Waledec botnet: a global network of compromised computers used to distribute a claimed 1.5 billion junk emails PER DAY.
The order requires VeriSign - the original dot-com registrar and a key player at ICANN (look it up) - to temporarily nuke the domains, the first time a legal attack on domain name registrations has taken down such a large chunk of spammer domains.
In the past, the domain name registry system has been one of the primary enablers of spamming. Away back before the domain name gold rush, .com was meant for commercial enterprises, .net was meant for networks, .gov was meant for governments, .org was meant for non-commercial organizations, and .edu was intended for educational institutions.
Then greed got in the way and only two of the original top level domains (TLDs) - .go and .edu - weren't completely polluted as the domain name system began feeding on a rapidly growing money supply. The only requirement for the feast to continue: don't give a fig if a domain name is registered to a cartoon character living in the middle of the East River, so long as the cheque doesn't bounce.
So while there are pundits proclaiming how little impact Microsoft's action will have on the war against spam, I beg to differ: going after the domain registry system is the right thing to do. And it's about time.
ICANN, and the major registrars that run it, have helped spam levels reach 90+ per cent of global email, and growing. Their abuse of the original intent of the registry system made them a pile of money. They don't care. Maybe Microsoft - a company I've bashed when it was warranted and credited when that was due - deserves a round of applause for sticking a wrench into the domain name cabal's spam wagon.
The other spam enabler that has escaped: credit card companies. Let's hope somebody really big who hates spam - Google, or Hotmail (microsoft) or Twitter - goes after them next.
-g
