Spyware nets huge profits...outraged people

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13757388

I personally think that all the companies that hired the company to zap our computers with Spyware should be sued as well.

 

[D76]

QUOTE(Nutterbutter @ Jul 8 2006, 05:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I personally think that all the companies that hired the company to zap our computers with Spyware should be sued as well.

But in a class-action suit, Mac users wouldn't get a thin dime.

Using Firefox 1.5.0.4, I clicked on a link on the third page to add a reader's comment to that story, but it being MSNBC, a window appeared saying, "This feature requires a more recent version of Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. To download the latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer, visit the Internet Explorer Web site."

What a laugh. I got even by blocking all the ads.

The comment I would have posted had the Great Satan allowed access by Macs is only one line: Adware and spyware doesn't exist on the Macintosh platform.

No Macs Allowed helps keep the M$ tax base ignorant.

That story has meaning even to Mac users, though. Keep spam to a minimum by not allowing email inline attachments, along with their web bugs, and turn off email HTML.

[kimmer]

QUOTE

Keep spam to a minimum by not allowing email inline attachments, along with their web bugs, and turn off email HTML.

I do have html turned off, how do you turn off "inline attachments" and "web bugs"?

[D76]

QUOTE(kimmer @ Jul 8 2006, 08:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I do have html turned off, how do you turn off "inline attachments" and "web bugs"?

You can't turn off web bugs, per se. From web-bug definitions I swiped from the net:

QUOTE

A graphic on a Web page or in an e-mail message designed to monitor who is reading the page or message. These bugs may be tiny and invisible (transparent) graphics 1-by-1 pixels in size. A third party which wants to gather information about users of the web page may put the bugs there.
www.qcc.mass.edu/booth/142B1/glossary.html

A web bug (also known as a tracking bug, pixel tag, web beacon or clear gif) is a technique for determining who viewed an HTML-based email message or a web page, when they did so, how many times, how long they kept the message open, etc.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_bug

I cannot find any control in Apple's Mail to disallow inline attachments. The only control is one in the Preferences, under View, that disallows remote images from third parties, whatever that means.

I think it means that if a spammer sends an email with a picture containing a web bug, it would get through unless the address from which the picture was sent is different than the address from which the mail was sent. In any event, it cannot be turned off completely, though Mail's Help says it can. The directions in Mail's Help describe an HTML control that hasn't existed for years.

As well, there is no way in Apple's Mail to force incoming email to display as plain text rather than HTML, though I believe plain-text email can be sent.

So I discarded Mail and use Mozilla's Thunderbird or the email apps in Mozilla's SeaMonkey and WaMCom's Mozilla for OS 9. These give me the choice whether to allow inline attachments in incoming email.

When an attachment of any kind arrives, I can kill it without having to display it, or save it to the desktop or anywhere then view it with another app, such as Preview. Whatever I do with it divorces it from the message, thwarting any web bugs or any other email-dependent attachment malware.

Also, these Mozilla email apps are set up to allow only plain-text outgoing email. I haven't used Eudora (or any other email apps other than Mozilla's) since Eudora introduced its policy of paying to use it or else accept its ads. So I have no idea how any other email app handles these things.

[jepinto]

Mail 1.3.11

QUOTE

Showing HTML elements in an email

Messages in HTML format often include graphics or other objects that can slow down the retrieval of the message. However, in Mac OS X v10.3 (Panther) and later, Mail uses Safari's HTML rendering engine, so HTML mail loads more quickly and is displayed more accurately.

Some junk mail may use HTML to embed graphics that, when retrieved from the sender's servers, reveal information about your computer's address and the time of day you read the message. If Mail detects that a message is junk, the HTML images won't be loaded. If you want to load them, you can click the Load Images button in the Junk Mail banner that appears above the body of the message.

You can also protect your privacy by turning off the HTML elements in messages and only displaying the text.
To turn off the display of HTML elements in messages:

Choose Mail > Preferences and click Viewing. Deselect the "Display images and embedded objects in HTML messages" checkbox.

When you view HTML messages, images and embedded objects will not be downloaded or displayed. This may make the messages harder to read.

[D76]

QUOTE

Choose Mail > Preferences and click Viewing. Deselect the "Display images and embedded objects in HTML messages" checkbox.

That's the control that doesn't exist. I think it did in Jaguar but was removed since. The closest mine (Version 2.1) gets to is:
Display remote images in HTML messages
Remote images require additional network access to display

What does "remote" mean? Whatever it means, spam attachments always display.

Going under Help  (while connected to the net to ensure I'm reading the most recent version), I can find nothing after typing the word attachments in the box, in an effort to to turn them off. There is this, however, that suggests it cannot be done:

QUOTE

Files attached to (or enclosed in) an email message are stored as part of the message. Since attachments are part of the message itself, they are usually deleted when you delete the message. You can save separate copies of attachments by clicking the Save button in the message window.

At the bottom of the Help page after typing in the word attachments is the link "Mac OS X 10.4 automatically checks downloads for unsafe content" There is nothing there, either, about turning them off. These particular linked instructions, however, only warn the user again never to click on suspect email. This is hardly adequate.

Somewhere in all these Help files and the files under What's New in Mail? (also under Help in the menu bar) is a statement about third-party  attachments that are supposedly blocked. This also suggests they cannot be turned off completely. When I use Mail, attachments always show up in spam, anyway.

[jepinto]

I'm in Panther and [attachment=21:attachment]

[D76]

Maybe Steve got an angry letter from "advertisers," and changed it in Tiger.