Brightmail
says spam hit all-time high in March
Spam reached its highest levels in March despite
prosecutions under the new anti-spam law, spam monitoring firm Brightmail
reported. Brightmail,
a San Francisco
company, tracks spam through its Probe Network, which deploys dummy email
accounts to identify spam messages that it then blocks for clients.
Unwanted commercial email has worsened since the CAN-SPAM Act, which
was supposed to scare off spammers, took effect Jan. 1.
Last
month, 63 percent of email traffic was spam. AOL recently claimed that better spam-fighting
technology and spammer prosecutions were working but did not have
statistics for March. Based on Brightmail’s research,
product-related email was the largest spam category, with 25 percent.
It was followed by financial services at 20 percent and adult
material with 15 percent.
Could
G-mail violate users' privacy rights?
Last
week Google announced
it would offer a free
email service, called "Gmail," with one gigabyte of free
storage capacity, 100 times more than Yahoo Mail and Microsoft's MSN
Hotmail. But if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
The new Google email service stores messages where users cannot
delete them, and a citizens’ group is complaining that the service
may violate Europe's privacy laws. Google will scan users' emails,
with the use of automated computers, in order to paste appropriate
advertising into messages. It may also link together
"cookies," which contain personal information, from both
email and web use records. Google, which also faced criticism from
U.S.-based privacy groups, has not commented on whether it would
adjust the terms of use. Government-supported privacy agencies in
Sweden and Germany have blocked commercial services because personal
information required to sign up would be stored on U.S.-based
computers.
Bet
on this: Sites start canning casino ads
Google and Yahoo have decided to stop running ads for internet casinos,
and the change could take place as early as this month. Federal
prosecutors started a grand jury investigation last year, issuing
subpoenas to American broadcasters, publishers and web sites that run
advertisements for online casinos that operate abroad. Lycos also has
decided to stop running the gambling ads. Search engine companies,
broadcasters and experts said the loss of advertising would not make a
substantial difference to the profits of American broadcasters and
publishers. But other industry experts say the policy change could have a
big impact on the online casinos and their ability to reach customers. The
World Trade Organization issued a decision that the United States'
prohibition on internet gambling violated the country's free trade
obligations. Critics say American companies were within their free speech
rights to publish online casino advertisements because they were
disseminating information.
New from Nintendo, a
Game Boy-video viewer
Not only will Nintendo GameBoy users be able to carry their favorite
video games in their pockets, but soon cartoons and maybe movies could be
played on the device. Often companies try to lengthen the life of older
consoles, hand-held or otherwise, by introducing new software. This year,
video programs of popular TV and movie characters such as “SpongeBob
SquarePants” are all the rage. Nintendo is following the trend by adding
video capabilities to its handheld game. Starting in May, video cartridges
for Game Boy Advance will turn the game into a mini-DVD player, with the
buttons controlling functions such as advance and rewind. Forty-five
minute discs will be available first, followed by 90-minute ones.
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