Spammer Threatens Anti-Spam Group

A company that's promoted an anti-spam "Do Not Intrude Registry" and essentially spammed spammers said Monday that many of its members have received threatening e-mails from a major junk mailer.

Blue Security, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based start-up, debuted its registry and BlueFrog client last summer. The company's researchers, who work out of Israel, analyze and vet the spam, trace the message to a Web site (typically the site selling the product or service), and find a form on the site that can be used to complain or opt-out. The BlueFrog client then sends automatically fills out the found form once for each spam received. The result: the site is overwhelmed with opt-out requests or complaints.

"You are being emailed because you are a user of Blue Security's well-known software 'BlueFrog.' Today, the Blue Security database became known to the worst spammers worldwide," read the intimidating e-mail. "Within 48 hours, the database will be published on the Internet, and your email address will be open to them all. After this, you will see the spam sent to your mailbox increase 10 - 20 fold."

The message also claimed that "Do Not Intrude Registry" users are breaking the law, and concluded with "If you think you can merely change your email address and be safe while still running BlueFrog, you are in for a big surprise. This is just the beginning..."

"We've reached a critical mass that spammers simply cannot ignore," said Eran Reshef, Blue Security's chief executive, who claimed that his company's registry had been signed by more than 500,000 people."We don't know much about this spammer, other than he's Russian and that he's big," said Reshef. "He said 'I'm not interested in opt-out, I'm happy with the business I have,' and so he's desperate, and sent these threatening e-mails."

Reshef dismissed the spammer's claim that he could publish the Do Not Intrude Registry database. "The Registry is encrypted," Reshef said. "He's using scare tactics and outright lies to further his agenda. Our members are not in any jeopardy of 'exposure' since the spammers already have their addresses. That is why they joined the Blue Community, to stop spam at its source."

The Blue Security Web site, where users can sign up with the Registry and download BlueFrog, was inaccessible throughout Tuesday morning. Reports that it was under a denial-of-service (DoS) attack were untrue, Reshef said. "It's just the additional traffic from this news," he said. "Friends are telling friends about the Registry."

Reshef also bragged of several recent wins over spammers, including one last week in which four major spam rings agreed to stop spamming Registry members. Together, the four are responsible for about 8 percent of the world's spam, Reshef claimed.

"Members have seen a sharp decline in spam just this last week, as these spammers, and others, cleaned their lists."0