Researchers Warns Against Diminishing Utility of Net

The worldwide creator of Web, Sir Tim Berners Lee, said that the distribution of fake data like promotion of site via spam mails on the web could hamper its utility as an important information tool, as reported by Vnunet on May 29, 2008,

Berners-Lee said that it is the content not the format that will try to hamper the progress of the Web. The trend of medical information offered by pharmaceutical enterprises which give rise to promotional Websites appearing as an unbiased mode of advice. This trend can follow the pattern display by the increase of mail scam.

Spam contains malware and is largely destructive. This is displayed in the sudden shift from pharmaceutical and health related spam, which was pretty much in scene during the last 2 years, to product related stuff. spammers have now switched over to the sale of fake watches, cheap jewelry and pens from sexual performance and male enlargement pills.

However, there is no doubt that spammers are responding to the demands of market. Specifically, a few spammers who control the global spam distribution chain courtesy of the size of botnet under their control. These spammers have shifted towards fake product spam, and consequently they have the potential to change the global outlook of spam.

Accessing information-gathering methods like the latest example of Phorm in UK also raises issues. But, researchers claimed that it is too early to draw conclusions about the damage these tools could do but past records suggest that they can create a whole world of spam.

Berners-Lee said that mail works well for a long time when too much business or consumers were not involved. Then, when a lot of people got engaged in this it reached a tipping level, and for many people it became unusable.

Also, any slight change in the creditability of the web can leave serious impact on any business or consumer with an online presence. The battle for getting a leading ranking on search engine results can emerge as an important issue, which is multiplying the amount of spam mails on the Internet.

Related article: Researchers Urge Caution against phishing Scams

» SPAMfighter News - 6/16/2008