Who is Ivan?

[Bob Hoffmann <escape@alt-escape.com>]

At 08:34 AM 1/6/2002 -0500, Nance Ceccarelli wrote:
>Who is IVAN?  and why do I (via the vision 2020 mail list) continue to receive
>emails that make absolutely no sense to me???  I keep reading that these are
>"re: >>>topic of interest<<<" - and then find out that it is a waste of my
>time.  PLEASE STOP - or be selective in your "to" line.

According to the "Who Is Listening" page of Vision 2020, 
cyclone@panet.co.yu has "No Name Available."  The email address is from 
Yugoslavia, although this may be faked.

It is my belief that Ivan is either a spammer (purveyor of unsolicited 
commercial email), or someone with a virus on his computer, or both.  There 
are cases where list serves (like Vision 2020) and moderated email 
newsletters are targeted by spammers, as they are a rich source of active 
email addresses.

Here is some advice that will reduce the problem, but not eliminate it:

Don't cc: (send a copy to) someone who is already on the list.  This will 
result in them receiving two emails, one addressed to v2020, and one 
addressed directly to them.  And then they'll probably receive double the 
messages from Ivan and his ilk.

Don't include email addresses in the body of the message you 
send.  Including cyclone@panet.co.yu, for instance, might guarantee that 
Ivan sends one of these obnoxious emails to himself (although the email 
address is probably a fake).

There are some technical solutions to reduce the use of list serves by 
spammers, but most system administrators and moderators don't have -- or 
take -- the time to implement them.

The "List Maintainer" of Vision 2020 can be reached at 
owner-vision2020@moscow.com.  While v2020 is an unmoderated list, I think 
it is reasonable to point out any misuse of the list, technical problems, 
apparent spammers & virus-plagued list members, etc., to the List Moderator.

Those of you with more interest or technical expertise in this issue might 
like to see the documents posted at 
http://blank.org/memory/busted/index2.htm.  Briefly, a group of spammers 
was causing difficulties for an Internet Service Provider, so he hacked 
into their computers, disabled their spamming software, and copied their 
internal documents, posting them on the Internet to expose and embarrass 
them.  "Not exactly legal," but fascinating.

Enjoy,

Bob Hoffmann
846 Mabelle St.
Moscow, ID  83843

Tel: 208 883-0642