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Facebook spammer's $711M fine won't stop problem, analysts say

Some say federal court order could lead to more sophisticated ways to avoid detection

Sharon Gaudin

October 30, 2009 03:37 PM ET
Computerworld

A federal court's decision this week to award Facebook a staggering $711 million in damages from a convicted spammer probably won't serve as much a deterrent to future attacks on social networks.

In fact, at least one analyst said the San Jose, Calif., court's decision could acually make it harder for sites like Facebook and Twitter to deal with spammers.

"I fear the major consequence from the fine will, unfortunately, be to spur social network spammers to become more sophisticated," said Dan Olds, principal analyst with Gabriel Consulting Group. "You'll see them covering their tracks better, making sure they are in jurisdictions that make it hard for legal authorities to reach them, and making their mechanisms more insidious and hard to stop."

Olds' speculation comes a day after Judge Jeremy Fogel ordered notorius spammer Sanford Walla to pay Facebook $711 million in damages for flooding the social network with spam messages starting around November 2008. Facebook noted on its Web site Thursday that Wallace, dubbed the Spam King, accessed people's accounts without their permission and sent phony Wall posts and messages .

Facebook also said that Judge Fogel referred the case to to the U.S. Attorney's Office with a request that Wallace be prosecuted for criminal contempt.

"While we don't expect to receive the vast majority of the award, we hope that this will act as a continued deterrent against these criminals," Sam O'Rourke, a member of Facebook's legal team, wrote in a Facebook blog post.

This isn't the social networking company's first big win against a spammer.

A little less than a year ago, Facebook was awarded $873 million in a separate federal lawsuit against spammers for violating the CAN-SPAM Act. The suit charged that Adam Guerbuez, Atlantis Blue Capital and 25 others falsely obtained log-in information for Facebook users and then sent spam to those users' friends.

Most analysts interviewed today said they have little faith that either judgement will help curtail spam on social networking sites.

"As long as there is money in spam and malware, there will always be people pursuing it as a vocation," Olds said. "It beats flipping burgers and we can't all be cool video game designers. Several years ago, there were huge fines handed down [against] e-mail spammers. Have you seen a big drop off in e-mail spam and phishing attempts? I would argue that we haven't."

And analysts say spam is a fast growing problem for sites like Facebook and Twitter. If it continues, many social networking sites that have seen their user base explode over the past year could quickly find many of those users leaving.

Caroline Dangson, an analyst with IDC, noted that spam is a problem especially for Facebook, which appeals to people looking to develop a private network where people need permission to send them messages.

"These consumer applications are free to use. Too much spam will push people away," she said. "We've seen Twitter recently add features to make it easier for users to report spam, most of which is pornographic."

Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group, said that dealing with spam should be a top priority of social networks.

"Spam is a massive resource problem in a world that is already network constrained," he said. "It reduces the value of everything it touches and is a substantial drag on national productivity. Inside or outside of social networks, it should be a top priority."

Ezra Gottheil, an analyst at Technology Business Research, said if spam gets out of control, usrs may abandon what are now their favorite social networks.

"Social networking is for both business and pleasure," said Gottheil. "In both cases, if you find yourself wasting too much time, especially in an annoying way, you'll stop doing it. If the downside can't be controlled, it will hurt social networking quite a bit, but I think it's controllable."

Thursday, October 29, 2009 7:09 PM 

Clayton teachers on leave after fight over Facebook love letter

Rex Mill Middle School teachers Chaka Cobb and Ebony Smith were arrested on Monday, Clayton County Police Officer Kevin Hughes said.

On Thursday, district spokesman Charles White said the teachers had been placed on administrative leave with pay pending an investigation.

The fight broke out Monday morning after the women learned they both were involved with the same male teacher, who also teaches at the school.

Cobb, who told police she is expecting a child with the man, said she found a letter from Smith on the man's Facebook page.

"I am in love with you. I am tired of being your every blue moon [expletive]," the letter read.

Cobb responded on Facebook with a "tumultuous" message, police said.

On Monday morning, the fight moved from Facebook to the school halls. That's where Smith approached Cobb and told her to "never do that again," the report states.

Cobb summoned an assistant principal, but the fight didn't stop.

Instead, it spilled into a classroom where Smith began to swing at Cobb, the report states.

Several other teachers broke up the fight and Cobb stormed down the hallway while threatening to post the letter on the blackboard.

The assistant principal told police she pulled Cobb into another classroom, with the children present, to calm her down. But Cobb continued to curse in front of the students. That's when Smith ran into the room again and "attempted to attack" Cobb, the report states.

Police interviewed several students, who said they heard Smith yell "[Expletive], you don't want none of this" and "get the [expletive] off me" while teachers were holding her down.

After talking to students and teachers, police charged Smith with simple assault and disorderly conduct. Cobb was charged with disorderly conduct.

"Due to the serious nature and children being present during this altercation, it would have been inappropriate for me not to pursue prosecution into this matter," Officer K. Singleton wrote in the report.

Both women were released on citations and released on their own recognizance instead of being booked in the jail, police said.

Cobb, 33, teaches seventh and eighth grade language arts. Cobb did not return a phone call left at her Rex home Thursday night. Smith, who teaches family and consumer science, could not be reached.

School officials said they could not comment further.

“The incident is a personnel matter, which is presently under review by the district’s human resources office,” White said. "They are on leave while the district completes its review and determines an appropriate course of action."

The fight occurred the same week as Clayton school board member Trinia Garrett is scheduled to go on trial for assaulting her live-in boyfriend. Garrett, who remains on the board, is out on bond on charges of simple assault, simple battery and criminal trespass. Her trial is on the calendar for this week, but has not started yet, her attorney Herbert Adams Jr. said.

The fight also occurred while the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is reviewing the school system's probationary accreditation.

LINK TO PHOTOS OF TEACHERS:

http://www.themoneytimes.com/20091030/police-love-letter-sparked-teacher-fight-id-1089241.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/6467319/The-worst-car-adverts-ever-made.html

Snoring could be cured with $3 injection

A $3 injection could cure snoring, a pioneering consultant claims.

Daily Telegraph 

7:00AM GMT 30 Oct 2009

Hadi Al-Jassim's team of consultants are the only ones in the country to offer an injection which they say is a genuine alternative to painful surgery.

The ear, nose and throat specialist - from Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust near Liverpool - has treated 400 patients at one of his hospitals and with excellent results.

''As everyone knows, snoring can cause major problems for patients and in particular their partners,'' said Mr Al-Jassim.

''In most cases it's the men who snore and their partners suffer sleep deprivation and at the end of the day you have to keep your partner happy - though women do snore as well.

''It causes all sorts of problems between partners and leads to marital, social and health problems.

''I am delighted with the treatment because, until this, there has been no effective treatment other than surgery.''

The treatment - called the snoreplasty - is quick and cheap.

It is a two-minute procedure done under local anaesthetic in which sodium tetradecyl is injected into the roof of the mouth.

The chemical, a sclerosing agent, is usually used in the treatment of varicose veins.

The injection combats snoring by stopping the soft tissue at the back of the mouth from vibrating.

Mr Al-Jassim, who is now giving lectures to other specialists across the country about the jab, added: ''Surgical treatment is very painful and takes weeks of recovery time so many patients decide not to do it because they can't get the time off work or their health's not strong enough for surgery.

''And in other cases surgery doesn't work.

''After the jab, patients can go home straight away and eat about an hour later.

''It will help around 70 per cent of sufferers and has made life easier for many patients and their partners.

''Even with those people it hasn't cured, they reported sleeping better and waking up feeling fresher.

''The jab can be given three times a year but some people find one injection lasts them a year.''

Public school nurses give swine flu vaccine to kids without parents' OK, sends child to hospital

Murray/NewsNikiyah Torres, with her mom Naomi Troy, who received a flu shot without parents permission was taken to a hospital.

School nurses mistakenly gave the swine flu vaccine to two students who didn't sign up for it - including a Brooklyn girl with epilepsy who wound up in the hospital.

"I was outraged," Naomi Troy, 26, told the Daily News after her 6-year-old daughter, Nikiyah Torres-Pierre, had a possible allergic reaction to the shot.

Officials at Public School 335 in Crown Heights called an ambulance to take Nikiyah to SUNY Downstate Medical Center when she fell ill following the arm jab.

"My stomach was hurting, and I was itching," Nikiyah said after she was released from the hospital.

The snafu and a similar mixup at a Staten Island school came in the first days of the city's in-school H1N1 vaccination program.

City officials have stressed the vaccine is safe and urged parents to sign up for it - though less than half have sent in permission slips.

Troy was waiting for advice from her family doctor on whether Nikiyah should get the shot since she takes medicine to control her epilepsy.

When the nurse called for a student Thursday morning, Nikiyah's teacher misunderstood and sent the wrong student, Troy said.

The error was compounded when the nurse didn't check Nikiyah's name before sticking her in the shoulder, the mother said.

"The school made a horrible mistake," she added. "They never asked for her name. They have no paperwork....How do you make a mistake like this?"

After the mistake was discovered, officials summoned Troy to the school, she said.

Troy said the nurse - a Department of Health employee - tried to get her to sign a consent form, after the fact.

"I was insulted. I was really angry. 'You just incriminated yourself even more,'" Troy recalled thinking.

"If they'd taken proper precautions in the school this never would have happened."

A student at PS 65 in Staten Island also received the vaccine without parental permission on Wednesday, but officials gave no further details.

Officials for the nurses union declined to comment. The Health Department said the incidents were under investigation.

"The Health Department does not expect any future adverse medical effects for these children, but we are working to determine how this misstep occurred," said spokeswoman Jessica Scaperotti.

"We will develop additional safeguards to prevent similar instances in the future."

She added that the vaccine is safe for kids suffering from epilepsy.

Roughly 1,800 students have received the vaccine in the first phase of the school blitz.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2009/10/30/2009-10-30_sorry_bout_the_shot_public_school_nurses_give_swine_flu_vaccine_to_kids_without_.html#ixzz0VPbICQQc

Junk food is almost as addictive as heroin, scientists have found.

Daily Telegraph 

7:37AM GMT 28 Oct 2009

Eating junk food can be addictive Photo: GETTY

A diet of burgers, chips, sausages and cake will programme your brain into craving even more foods that are high in sugar, salt and fat, according to new research.

Over the years these junk foods can become a substitute for happiness and will lead bingers to become addicted.

Dr Paul Kenny, a neuroscientist, carried out the research which shows how dangerous high fat and high sugar foods can be to our health .

“You lose control. It’s the hallmark of addiction,” he said.

The researchers believe it is one of the first studies to suggest brains may react in the same way to junk food as they do to drugs.

“This is the most complete evidence to date that suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neuro-biological foundations,” said Paul Johnson, Dr Kenny’s work colleague.

Dr Kenny, who began his research at Guy’s Hospital, London, but now works at Florida’s Scripps Research Institute, divided rats into three groups for his research, due to be published in teh US soon.

One got normal amounts of healthy food to eat. Another lot was given restricted amounts of junk food and the third group was given unlimited amounts of junk, including cheesecake, fatty meat products, and cheap sponge cakes and chocolate snacks.

There were no adverse effects on the first two groups, but the rats who ate as much junk food as they wanted quickly became very fat and started bingeing.

When researchers electronically stimulated the part of the brain that feels pleasure, they found that the rats on unlimited junk food needed more and more stimulation to register the same level of pleasure as the animals on healthier diets.

Police: Man Said God Told Him To Steal Car 

Kendra Steele

LEX-TV

Web Content Producer

Posted: Oct 28, 2009 6:13 AM
Updated: Oct 28, 2009 11:59 AM

Lexington, KY - A bizarre story at a Lexington car dealership.

Police said David A. Silva, 36, smashed a window at Freedom Dodge but before he could get inside, a security guard stopped him. Silva apparently told the guard God wanted him to steal a Dodge Charger for the Almighty.

The security guard held Silva until police arrived and when officers questioned him, Silva initially told police his name was "Seven."

We're told Silva did a bit of damage to the dealership and is facing several charges, including criminal mischief.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.lex18.com/player/?video_id=2431&zone_id=56&categories=56

                                       WARNING

                                    SOME MILD NUDITY

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/6459430/2010-calendars-nude-charity-and-bizarre-calendars-available-for-next-year.html

Did Schwarzenegger drop 4-letter bomb in veto?

Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross

SF Chronicle Columnists

(10-27) 19:19 PDT SACRAMENTO -- Did Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office use a coded veto message to send the f-bomb to Tom Ammiano, soon after the San Francisco assemblyman made news by telling the governor to "kiss my gay ass"? 

Schwarzenegger's people say no. But the X-rated evidence is hard to miss in a message that Schwarzenegger sent to explain why he was vetoing an Ammiano bill dealing with financing for the Port of San Francisco.

A straight reading of the guv's letter laments "the fact that major issues are overlooked while many unnecessary bills come to me for consideration," and concludes, "I believe it is unnecessary to sign this measure at this time."

But a vertical read of the far-left-hand letters in each of the missive's eight lines offers a more blunt explanation: "I f- you."

Schwarzenegger's press secretary, Aaron McLear, insisted Tuesday it was simply a "weird coincidence." He sent us veto messages the governor sent out in the past with linguistic lineups such as "soap" and "poet," which he said were also unintended.

"Something like this was bound to happen," McLear said.

Maybe. But the veto message came after Ammiano called the governor a liar and shouted from the audience to "kiss my gay ass" when Schwarzenegger unexpectedly showed up at a Democratic Party dinner in San Francisco on Oct. 7.

Ammiano later called Schwarzenegger's attendance at the event a "cheap publicity stunt" that wasn't at all amusing, in light of the governor's cuts in social services, ordered furloughs of state workers and failure to act on some gay-rights issues.

The governor's veto letter was in response to Ammiano's AB1176 - a rather mundane bill meant to help San Francisco's port with finance issues. The "coincidence" was first picked up on Tuesday by the Bay Guardian newspaper.

As for Ammiano, a professional comic in addition to being a liberal Democrat, he's playing it straight on this one: "They probably think they are even now," he said.

"I think it was very creative, and it's time to bury the hatchet," Ammiano added. "I'm not interested in prolonging it."

The hidden message - if that's what it was - "was certainly more subtle than 'kiss my gay ass,' " said Barbara O'Connor, political science professor at Sacramento State University. "But it shows the acrimony and bad feelings in Sacramento are pretty bad.

"I doubt if it was the governor himself," O'Connor said. "But maybe the staff was having a good time."

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.wbaltv.com/video/21449480/

http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/27/top-earning-dead-celebrities-list-dead-celebs-09-business-entertainment-all_slide_2.html

Edward Ates Claims He's Too Fat To Have Killed His Son-In-Law

Wed Oct 28, 12:25 PM ET

Local Grandma Turns 105

By Rachel McNeill

Her granddaughter Amy Black shouted in her ear, "How does it feel to be 105?"

Juanita answered, "OK."

Other than being a little hard of hearing, Juanita's in excellent health. She only takes three medications and has never consumed alcohol, smoked or driven a day in her life.

Amy Black said, "She walked everywhere. That might be why she's so healthy."

She then asked Juanita, "What's your trick? Why are you 105?"

Juanita laughed, "Because I drink green tea."

Amy nodded, "That's right, people. Green tea."

Widowed at 30 when her husband died in a car accident, Juanita outlived her three children and lived alone well into her 90s, refusing to go into a nursing home.

Amy Black said, "They came to her front door and she went out the back, and she called me and said, 'Look, I've got 1,800 bucks. Can I come live with you?'"

Amy happily took her in.

She said, "(Juanita's) a joy. I think I'm keeping her young because she likes to go everywhere I go and she likes to do all the things young girls like to do. She doesn't go anywhere without her lipstick or earrings."

To celebrate the big 105, Juanita shook up an iconic Houston ladies club.

Amy told Local 2, "We took her because she'd like to see some men. We took her to La Bare, to the strip club and she had a good time."

Amy asked Juanita, "How'd you like the strip club?"

Juanita smiled, "I liked it!"

Nightclubs for the plus-size set are latest trend in fat acceptance movement

Andrews/APPatrons dance the night away at Club Bounce in Long Beach, Calif. The club is specifically aimed at attracting overweight individuals.

LONG BEACH, Calif.  —  Move over, it's Saturday night at Club Bounce and people are bouncing onto the dance floor in a big, big way.

These are big, big people, all dressed to the nines and many tipping the scales at 250, maybe 300 pounds.

That's because this expansive nightclub a couple blocks from the Pacific Ocean, with its flashing lights, friendly atmosphere and wall-rattling hip-hop sounds, caters specifically to fat people.

That's right, fat people. Not just any fat people, either, but fat people who are proud to call themselves fat people. People who joke that they are part of the new Fat is Phat movement.

"Self-conscious? No! Not at all," laughs Monique Lopez, a curvaceous woman of 23 as she arrives in a tight, black dress and heels. "I was like, 'I'm going to Club Bounce tonight. I'm going to wear my shortest skirt.'" (Which she did.)

The movement for equal rights for plus-sized people is nothing new of course. The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, with chapters around the country, was founded 40 years ago. A nonprofit group, it advocates that everyone be treated equally regardless of size, arguing that we don't live in a one-size-fits-all world.

But what has been slower coming, fat advocates say, are places like Club Bounce, where people who might have some trouble getting past the velvet ropes at other night spots because of their size are made to feel like they fit right in.

"When you're not what they consider ideal, you know, and you're out there trying to get your dance on at those other places, you get the looks, the stares. But not here. Everything's accepted here," says Vanessa Gray of Long Beach, an attractive 30-something woman who acknowledges jovially that after giving birth to three children, "I've got a little more meat on my bones."

Such clubs are still a relatively new phenomenon, however, with a handful scattered across California, mainly in coastal cities from San Diego to San Francisco.

"The whole thing really started on the Internet, with clubhouse parties organized online," says Kathleen Divine, who runs another Southern California plus-size club, the Butterfly Lounge. "Now you see a lot more large people out in public, not hiding behind their keyboards anymore."

A Web site for "big beautiful women" (bbwnetwork.com) sponsors an annual "Vegas Bash," for example, and there are similar gatherings in cities like Atlanta and Seattle.

But veteran fat activist Lynn McAfe of the Council On Size and Weight Discrimination would like to see more clubs.

It's nice to have a place to go where you can do a little flirting and maybe bring your thin sister or somebody from work who isn't fat, and they'll be in your world for awhile," says McAfe, a pioneer of the fat advocacy movement. "That's an amazing experience for a lot of people who aren't fat, to spend a day or night in a world of fat people."

Not that every large person prefers to be called fat, especially by someone who isn't.

Lisa Marie Garbo, who opened Club Bounce five years ago, says she prefers plus-sized or larger-framed.

"But I don't think fat is a bad word anymore," she adds. "I think a lot of people embrace it now."

Garbo, a vivacious, 40-year-old blonde partial to flamboyant outfits of tight-fitting pants and low-cut tops, said she opened the club for herself and others who were tired of being "the only fat girl at the local nightclub."

The club, with a capacity of 400, attracts relatively equal numbers of men and women, although Garbo says about three-quarters of the women tend to be heavy, while only about a quarter of the men are.

Some club-goers, like Chad Koyanagi, started out big, then slimmed down. Others, like Garbo herself, have seen their weight go up and down over the years. Still others say they're happy the way they are.

Like a lot of heavy people, Koyanagi says he started dropping by the club after a friend he met on a social networking site kept after him to get out of the house. Painfully shy at first, the 30-year-old eventually began to fit in and ended up shedding 50 pounds. Although he's no longer hefty enough to fit the club's BHM profile (Big Handsome Man), he says he's made too many friends to stop coming.

But while not all club-goers are overweight, the very nature of such venues has led some to question whether they are encouraging people to remain fat in a society where, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one-third of adults are already obese.

"I'm not a gain-weight advocate or anything like that," says Garbo, who adds she has struggled with her own weight since doctors put her on steroids as a child to treat her asthma. "My message to people is live your life no matter what size you are."

Although obesity remains a serious problem, with links to diabetes, heart disease and other health issues, says sociologist Karen Sternheimer, creating a place where people can feel good about themselves can build self-esteem, which in turn can prompt people to do something about their weight.

"As the country gets heavier and ultimately unhealthier, in many instances the problem is people feeling bad about themselves, and feeling bad about themselves doesn't motivate people to lose weight," says Sternheimer, author of "Connecting Social Problems and Popular Culture."

What does motivate people, she said, is starting with a positive outlook of accepting who you are, then working from there to change your appearance in whatever way you want.

"Anything that helps people feel better about themselves," she said, "there's something positive to that."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2009/10/28/2009-10-28_nightclubs_for_the_plussize_set_are_latest_trend_in_fat_acceptance_movement.html?page=1#ixzz0VH2XovOQ

Oct 28, 2009 6:15 am US/Pacific

School Employee Accused Of Duct Taping Child

Palmer Elementary Officials Say Jennifer Carter Will Be Fired; Carter Also Arrested

DENVER (CBS)

Jennifer Carter is accused of duct taping a student's mouth shut and bound his wrists.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.cbs2.com/video/?id=63514@kcnc.dayport.com

Jennifer Carter is accused of duct taping a student's mouth shut and bound his wrists.

Denver Police Department

 

 

Denver school administrators say the district plans to fire a staffer accused of duct taping a student's mouth and wrists.

Jennifer Carter, 45, was arrested on Monday on charges of misdemeanor child abuse and false imprisonment.

Palmer Elementary first grader, Joshua Tenner, was allegedly duct taped by Carter on Wednesday after being sent to the principal's office, reports.

Joshua, 6, told CBS station KCNC-TV in Denver that he was sent to the principal's office on Wednesday when a substitute teacher said he was disrupting his first grade class.

"The secretary taped my mouth shut and taped my wrists together," he said, referring to the principal's secretary.

The principal, Elizabeth Trujillo, sent a letter home with all students on Thursday. It stated the Denver Public Schools and Denver police would "... investigate any allegation of misconduct," and that "... be assured the safety of students is a top priority."

Ashlye Tenner, Joshua's mother, said the principal is acting as a witness.

"She said she came back from lunch duty, saw the tape on his face and told the secretary to take it off and not to do it again. And she said she apologized to my son," said Tenner.

Late Monday evening, Denver Public Schools released this statement:

"Based on the evidence confirmed at this stage, the district is taking action to immediately terminate the employee. This is a deeply troubling incident, and this type of conduct is completely reprehensible and inexcusable."

Carter has spent two nights in jail despite the charges against her are misdemeanors. KCNC was told it is the discretion of the arresting officer as to whether she needed to be kept in jail and Denver police decided she should be based on what they called "the magnitude of the crime."

Joshua has not been back in school and his mom plans to enroll him in a new school.