Are Spammers Giving Up?

sfjoe writes "Are spammers giving up the game? Google seems to think so. In an article at Wired, Google, '... says that spam attempts, as a percentage of e-mail that's transmitted through its Gmail system, have waned over the last year'. They think their own filters are so good that spammers aren't even trying anymore. 'Other experts disagree with Google, pointing out that overall spam attempts continue to rise. By most estimates, tens of billions of spam messages are sent daily. Yet for most users, the amount of spam arriving in their inboxes has remained relatively flat, thanks to improved filtering.'"

Hopefully they're finally getting...

[Anonymous Coward]

...all that cancer I've wished upon them.

Re:For Serious?

[explosivejared]

I wouldn't be so sure. I did feel the ground get a bit cooler. As if something just froze over. However, it could just be my imagination. ... Oh yeah, It's just my imagination!

If they give up

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

will she still love you more than any other guy? Or will your short and flaccid member be the shame you bear?

Re:For Serious?

[coldmist]

Like anyone on Slashdot reads tfa... ;)

Re:My Experience

[edwardpickman]

Spam detection has got to be something like 99.999% accurate

So given the volume of spam what do you get, 200 or 300 a day?

Of course they've given up

[Billosaur]

Spammer 1: We can't get anything past Google's filter.

Spammer 2: Agreed. [sighs]

Spammer 1: I guess we'll have to give up spamming.

Spammer 2: Seems that way.

Spammer 1: Unless...

Spammer 2: You have an idea?

Spammer 1: Why don't we keep spamming everyone else!

Spammer 2: Rapture! You're so smart!

Re:Not giving up, just more Macs and Linux

[wattrlz]

Mod parent +2 Optimistic Lovely sentiment, but that's kind of like saying, "It snowed this weekend because I installed compact flourescent lightbulbs in my house".

Re:Well..... Not really.

[s20451]

You remember when Bill Gates said spam would be over by 2006? Boy was he right -- I haven't had spam in my inbox in weeks. Thanks, Google.

Spam? What Spam?

[Orleron]

I dunno, spam's not so bad. After all these years on email, my penis is longer, and never flacid because of these cool pills I'm taking, and this Nigerian guy gave me a few million bucks, which I subsequently donated to charity to save that poor little boy, even though all he wanted was teddy bears and flowers. Bill, tell these people that there's no such thing as spam. Come on. Will ya?

Re:My Experience

[trcooper]

Gmail freaking sucks. I get several spams TO MY INBOX every day. Frequently in some foreign language. There are 25 messages in my spam folder, and 5 in my inbox which are clearly spam just since midnight.

Google is wrong both about spammers giving up and about the awsomeness of their filters.

I'm not sure what my company uses, but Google should invest in that product... My corporate email has been listed on the interwebs for 10 years, and I MAY get a spam once a week, and usually that only gets to the blackberry for some reason, my outlook client catches the rest.

Google is tooting their own horn way too much here. They have a lot they need to improve, they are clearly not the best in this area.

Some are giving up

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

Some spammers are giving up. Mainly because they realize that running botnets is a better way of making money.

Note to spammers

[jimlintott]

Spammers, please take note that I actually have a large penis. Your assistance and concern, while appreciated, is simply not required.

Re:If they give up

[Dishevel]

So...You Read the spam you get?

Re:My Experience

[cmseagle]

Subscribing to too many free porn websites are we?

Checks Gmail...

[kernelpanicked]

Yep still 2GB of spam and maybe 3 real messages. Yeah your filters are teh roxxor Google. Jeez

Re:I've noticed...

[Skim123]

But, again, it's obvious that 'granny' doesn't want the spam if she specifically signed up with an ISP that uses Bayesian Filters.

How do you know that granny chose one ISP over another based on their spam filtering policies. Perhaps she chose the ISP that was listed first in the Yellow Pages, or the one that Carlos, the Cuban pool boy, recommended. And maybe those 'm@k3 Ur M3mBer B1gg3r' spams do catch granny's eye, and she forwards them on to Carlos.

Re:For Serious?

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

This one does not require reading tfa

Great! I mean after all, why start now?