Here’s a different take on the spam wars: the granny spammer. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution tells the story of Flo Fox, a graying grandmother in a “What Would Jesus Do?” T-shirt who uses a couple of shopworn computers to out millions of junk e-mails for merchandise ranging from land in Belize to blessed coins.
What I found interesting about the story, apart from the granny bit, is that the spammers interviewed say they have established Internet accounts in countries where spam isn’t controlled, though they won’t say where. “You’re not going to stop it,” one of the spammers is quoted as saying. “Most of us go offshore now. You have to hide where you are.” This is where Asia comes in, big: Korea, China, India, Pakistan and possibly Malaysia top my list of suspects.
(More discussion about the people in question, by people who apparently go to church with them, on Slashdot, the place where everybody knows your name.)