The Spam Weblog

Splogs, links, attention, and tech monoculture - October 19, 2005

Via Jeneane Sessum I jumped onto Doc's thread about the splog problem and his supposition that its ultimate roots lie deeper inside the homogeny and monoculturalism in the tech world. He raises some interesting questions I'd love your feedback on: Do you think Google has become a monoculture in search and advertising both How big is the problem of link devaluation, and can the splog problem be solved by rethinking the concept of page-rank And more largely - how do we take concrete steps...
http://spam.weblogsinc.com/2005/10/19/splogs-links-attention-and-tech-monoculture/

Should Google kill Blogspot - October 17, 2005

Chris Pirillo is hopping mad about a recent swarm of search spam coming from one rather conspicious domain: blogspot.com. The accusation is that, for whatever reason, it's far too easy for spammers to send posts through the Blogger system, leading to thousands of splogs spewing search spam on various keywords. One suggestion is to add a captcha hoop before posts are made live, as Blogger has done with comments. The other suggestion is, um, a bit less favorable - kill Blogger altogether....
http://spam.weblogsinc.com/2005/10/17/should-google-kill-blogspot/

Massachusetts levies $37 million fine against "Internet Spam Gang" - October 14, 2005

The Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General is on the hunt for one Leo Kuyeyev, leader of the "Internet Spam Gang" who received a crackdown this week from a Boston judge who fined the illegal spam operation $37 million. Attorney General Tom Reilly brought the suit against Kuvayev and six others with ties in Massachusetts in May, and civil charges were brought against the group this week in order to quickly shut down the spam ring. U.S.-based ISPs have since shut down the Kuvayev...
http://spam.weblogsinc.com/2005/10/14/massachusetts-levies-37-million-fine-against-interne...

VeriSign acquires Weblogs.com to help combat splogs - October 10, 2005

VeriSign purchased Weblogs.com, the blog pinging service brainchild of Dave Winer, for $2.3 million, with one of the expressly stated goals listed as entering the fight against spam blogs (or splogs, as they're not so affectionately known). The number of splogs is currently growing at a faster rate than regular blog growth, according to Michael Graves, techno-evangelist (wicked job title!) at VeriSign. He indicates that combating blog spam faces many of the same challenges currently...
http://spam.weblogsinc.com/2005/10/10/verisign-acquires-weblogs-com-to-help-combat-splogs/

Collected from around the Network, this is the Best of Weblogs, Inc. - October 1, 2005

The Weblogs, Inc. network features over 100 independent, unfiltered bloggers producing over 1,000 blog posts a week across over 75 industry-leading blogs. Each week we ask our bloggers to choose their top posts, which we bring to you in one easy-to-read weekly post. You'll find links to the hottest posts from the past week after the jump including TiVo's new cancellation fee, sushi etiquette, and iTunes for Windows Mobile. The Wireless Weblogs Michael Sciannamea wonders if Bubble Talk is.
http://spam.weblogsinc.com/2005/10/01/collected-from-around-the-network-this-is-the-best-o...