| IGF - Anti-spam bodies form new alliance
International anti-spam bodies have joined together to launch www.stopspamalliance.org - a central resource to inform anyone with an interest in fighting spam. The site includes information on anti-spam laws and enforcement activities, consumer and business education, best practices for fighting spam, and international co-operation. Parties looking to participate in the fight against spam can use the website as a single point of entry to find out what other organisations are doing in this area. They can use it to publicise or find out about upcoming events and papers on the issue. Governments can access it to inform how they develop their own anti-spam legislation and the private sector can form best practice policies based on information on the site from those that have already done so, said Claudia Sarrocco of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)'s Information and Communications Policy Division.
Trojan uses hacked antivirus code
A new 'spambot' virus is doing the rounds that is able to masquerade as an anti-virus scanner to eliminate competition from other malware. Having infected the host system and acted to protect itself, it goes about its task of circulating spam, warn experts. The malware, named SpamThru, is practically undetectable by other virus scanners as its code is constantly mutating. Security vendor SecureWorks, which was one of the first to identify the threat, says that SpamThru is a Trojan that converts a system into an army of bots designed to spread unwanted email. "Detection by AV vendors is sparse," said Joe Stewart, a security expert with vendor SecureWorks. "But that's to be expected given that SpamThru is a money-making operation, and the author takes great care to make sure that detection by the major vendors is avoided by frequently updating the code.
Spam a lot: Spiced ham purveyor fails in trademark bid
Hormel Foods, which owns the trademark for spiced ham food product SPAM, has failed in its attempt to register "spam" as an EU-wide trademark when used to designate unsolicited emails. Hormel attempted to register "spam" as a trademark when used to refer to "services to avoid or suppress unsolicited emails", and the "creation and maintenance of computer software; technical consultancy, particularly in combination with network services; and providing of expertise, engineering services and technical consulting services [related to junk email]". Hormel argued in an appeal to the Office of Harmonisation for the Internal Market (Ohim), the EU trademark body, the general public would not immediately recognise the use of the word "spam" as pertaining to junk email but would instead associate it with "a kind of spicy ham" food product.
'Queer Eye' for a wine guy
My colleagues said my best pair of "go to dinner" shoes are frumpy, so I took extreme measures: I called one of the Fab Five from the TV show "Queer Eye." But this is the Wine section, so did I get the fashion maven? Nope, instead I spent a pleasant half hour chatting with Ted Allen, "Queer Eye" food and wine expert. Allen, whose dry wit enlivens the show as much as his tips for the culinarily hopeless, was a Chicago restaurant critic and a contributing editor for Esquire magazine before joining "Queer Eye." Born in Ohio and raised in Indiana, Allen has a master's degree in journalism from New York University. At his first journalism job, he met his partner Barry Rice, then his editor. In a precursor to fame, Rice put together a team of critics including Allen that was called "The Famished Four." Allen visited local Safeway stores recently as part of one of his many side gigs: promoting Robert Mondavi Private Selection wines.
Scammers Dust Off The Old "Pump & Dump"
With the Dow at 12,000 and real estate values sinking faster than the Titanic, many investors are taking another look at the stock market. And scammers have dusted off an old chestnut to take advantage of unsophisticated investors. As long as there have been stocks, there have been stock touters -- those who seek to drive up the price of shares that they happen to own in hopes of selling at a huge profit. Also called the "pump and dump," this scheme leaves many small investors holding the bag when the scammers sell and the share prices plunge. Using spam emails, these scammers are sending out millions of messages each day breathlessly extolling the virtue of some obscure company. In nearly every case the company itself is clueless that it is part of a scam.
Hormel loses bid for spam trademark
The company behind spicy luncheon meat SPAM has failed in an attempt to register Europe-wide trademarks asserting its right over the term "spam" in relation to unsolicited bulk email. Hormel applied to the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) for the trademarks but was unsuccessful. It appealed the original decision not to grant it the trademarks, but the Second Board of Appeal also rejected its application. .
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