"WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Trade Commission and regulatory agencies in 26 countries warned hundreds of thousands of computer users Thursday they were unwittingly helping people who send floods of unwanted e-mails.

In a campaign called Secure Your Server, the FTC and others sent e-mail warnings to operators of computers that might be improperly configured to permit outsiders to route spam e-mails through them.

Spammers pitching prescription drugs, pornography and cheap loans use these misconfigured computers to disguise their identity and origin. Most such computers are inside corporations; few are located in homes.

"Recipients may think the spam comes from your system," the FTC said in its e-mail. "Securing your server will help you protect your system from being misused."

The FTC identified the misconfigured computers with data published by leading anti-spam activists. FTC experts did not scan the Internet themselves for such computers. "


Read more at CNN

Psst. It has something to do with Microsoft...

lol, but true

It has nothing to do with Microsoft. They just make software and hardware. They don't send spam.

I live next door to Microsoft, George....just a few minutes away from where I'm sitting right now. The school district holds its competitions there. I myself have been on the campus.

I suggest you read the story in the Seattle P-I this morning about the Macintosh Business Unit of Microsoft. You might be surprised.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/158677_msftmac30.html

:-:~ Phantom

Trojans planted on computers without the users knowledge contributes and allows much of this. It's amazing that I still get customers in my computer store with no antivirus or out of date antivirus software and their systems. And they're usually infected with some trojan.

Phantom... think a min

Microsoft Software is on 90 percent of the computers in the world, and most likely 99.9 percent of the "hijacked" computers being discussed. The security flaws that Microsoft is WELL AWARE of, but refuses to FIX (because they want "future control ability" and "trusty computing" etc.) are the PROBLEM...

Average consumers who could care less about firewalls and security etc etc should not be denied the benefits computers just because they are not "geeky and tech savy" enough to know how to secure the computers.

Microsoft knows DAMN well they could plug the leaks on their own fucking software if they wanted

but the dont WANT to

Microsoft cares NOTHING for the average joe, other than the average joe sends them $$$ for the wonders of computing in the modern age

Sure, Billy Gates gives a lot of money to charity and some good social things...
it is great PR and all,

but PLUG THE HOLES for my mom and dad and grandma who will NEVER learn to do something as simple as install a firewall or run ad-aware type progs.

We are NOT all GEEKS

The internet and computing ability belong to us all... NOT just the "techies"

Shmoo

what happened to "Corporate Responsiblity" and all that...

Corporations are GRANTED their very existance and many more rights/freedoms than actual people get for the privilege of making money... something comes with that GRANT we give...

I said it in the first line

and George did a better job summing up this article with his "first on this thread" post...

but If my mom and dad or grandma happened upon this thread... they would not know what he meant by it...

only those "in the know" can use the shorthand

the rest we must educate

and NOT scorn them

I use mozilla browser and mail. I never get these spam/viruses and I'm a bit miffed about that; I feel left out in some way; there is an emptiness in my life; I wake up every morning and eagerly turn on my computer hoping, somehow, that I recieved a virus today, but it never come - so sad .

Mozilla has a great spam filter also. Just mark any unwanted emails that get through and they, and any like them, are immediately shuffled into the trash from then on.

You can also limit all incoming emails file size (mines on 15kilobyte limit) so any attachements don't even reach your computer if you don't want them to.

Not sure if Outlook has all these things but I'm happy with my set-up, and I can surely say it's working.

"Microsoft knows DAMN well they could plug the leaks on their own fucking software if they wanted

but the dont WANT to"

I do hope you have some sort of evidence for this. I stand with Phantom on this issue. It's absurd to think MS just 'dont want to' fix issues. One of the MAJOR slams against Microsoft products is that all of the major virii in the world are targeted at its software. Each new round and big virus is another black eye. I would really like to hear some facts on your stance, other than a vague anti-Microsoft attitude.

However I agree wholeheartedly that people should know more about such things, but I pose you this puzzler. How many people driving modern cars with EFI and onboard computer know a damn thing about them? The bulk of society wants to USE technology and is none too concerned with understanding the why's of it. Just a thought...

never forget...Bill Gates' dad is a lawyer..
early on...when computers were basically blinking boxes and software amounted to making the computer say "hello world"..there was the Home Brew Computer club , which existed to share info,programming tips...etc.

Steve Wozniak was a member...

Gates sent them a hateful, snippy letter warning them of copyright infringement....

"Microsoft has fought piracy since 1976, when Bill Gates wrote his
now-famous "Homebrew" open letter to computer hobbyists. The missive
chastised computer users and called them "thieves" for not paying to use
the operating software, known as BASIC."
http://fux0r.phathookups.com/textfiles/E-zines/hwahaxornews/HWA-hn27.txt

Here's a quote from Billy boy's letter
" Is this fair? One thing you don't do by steeling software is get back at MITS for some problem you may have had. MITS doesn't make money selling software. The royalty paid to us, the manual, the tape and the overhead make it a break-even operation. One thing you do is prevent good software from being written. Who can afford to do professional work for nothing? What hobbyist can put 3-man years into programming, finding all bugs, documenting his product and distribute for free? The fact is, no one besides us has invested a lot of money in hobby software. We have written 6800 BASIC, and are writing 8080 APL and 6800 APL, but there is very little incentive to make this software available to hobbyists. Most directly, the thing you do is theft. "

Notice Billy alleges theft, but cannot even spell stealing ? (He puts "steeling").

See his whiney little missive online at:

http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/reach/435/openltr.html

It's about time something like this is being done.

Poor Bill, a dollar just isn't worth what it used to be. But I think his aim is more about control more than money. I dunno. If I had his cash, I'd be on an island somewhere not giving a hoot about anything.

The problem is a lot of people here keep contridicting themselves. Microsoft is trying to develop a spam / virus free computing environment, it's called Trusted Computing.

Once there's further news on Trusted Computing, it'll just be posted here on another forum about how Bill is trying to control us and take away our freedoms.

It's a double-edged sword. To make a completely secure environment would take away freedoms.

And probably the biggest point is, Microsoft, Norton's, etc. they all work very hard to keep their software up to date & secure, but it's up to the user to make sure they have all the latest updates; there's no way they can force this onto users.

DK81, before making critical remarks, please learn how to SPELL...it's "contradicting"...not contridicting (sic)...