[nukkad] Mushrooming spam bugs Hotmail users (news Item from HT)

[Net Geek <>]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Get your Bollywood fix here:
          http://www.mumbai-central.com/mboards/#bollywood
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Nukkies
            Going by the below posting, I don't regret switching to Yahoo from
Hotmail. I discontinued using Hotmail by mid June but left the account intact after
clearing all the contents. As of today it has attracted 186 messages out of which
only one was a genuine message all the rest being spams. During this time period the
only spam I received on Yahoo was a couple of "Sulekha Premium Blend" ones. 

=============
Bye,



Netgeek aka Cherian
-------

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_32104,0008.htm

If you are a Hotmail user, your trust stands breached. A couple of months ago, MSN
added two boxes to your profiles and checked them for you. What those harmless
looking tiny boxes have done is thrown open your personal information to anyone,
anywhere.

If you want to know what we are talking about, log on to your Hotmail ID and go to
Options. As you scroll down, you will see the two small ticked windows that have
made it possible for spammers to plunder your e-mail account.

While checking one has made your e-mail ID available to spammers, marking the other
box has opened up your entire registration information to anyone interested in it.
This includes details such as your date of birth, country and region, gender,
accessibility, time zone and occupation.

According to Microsoft, this has happened due to a technical snag that occurred when
the company was trying to integrate the 'Passport' services into their services
portfolio a couple of months ago. "There has been some confusion over this and the
anomaly is being taken care of. It was a temporary problem and we are committed to
not sharing personal information without the subscribers knowing," says a Microsoft
spokesperson.

While Microsoft sorts out its problem, Hotmail users' in-boxes are inundated by spam
or unwanted mail. Says IT consultant Ravi V. Prasad: "Whether Hotmail does something
now or not, the database has already been compromised. It certainly is a breach of
trust but with the vaguely worded privacy policies of most of the free e-mail sites
today, who decides what you would call breach?" asks Prasad.

Yahoo, for instance, changed its privacy policy a few months ago, informing its
subscribers that the site has planned to commercialise the database. But they at
least posted a mail to subscribers asking them to fill out a form in case they
wanted to remain unlisted. But with Hotmail, such courtesy are yet awaited.

No wonder Hotmail users are feeling harassed by mushrooming spam. "I have to clear
my mailbox every two days as the amount of space taken by the spam fills up my
account size limit of 2 MB. So you have reminders from the account member service
which asks you to shift or delete your messages every other day," says Pawan Kaul,
who is an avid Hotmail user.

So while Hotmail sorts out whether to acknowledge the goof-up or not, all that users
have to do is individually undo the two checked boxes at the end of the personal
profile form, which specifies your preferences. That could take care of some amount
of spam that you have been deleting from your inbox everyday. That's till Microsoft
has a remedy.



=====
Bye,



Netgeek aka Cherian
-------

________________________________________________________________________
Want to sell your car? advertise on Yahoo Autos Classifieds. It's Free!!
       visit http://in.autos.yahoo.com


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, use the form at: http://www.mumbai-central.com/nukkad/#options
This list is archived at: http://www.mumbai-central.com/nukkad/archive.html