College Says No To All Yahoo And Hotmail Accounts

from the block-'em-all! dept

Unfortunately the full article is blocked by subscription, but this short summary at Edupage says that the Guam Community College has come up with a bizarre method of stopping spam: they're blocking all email from Yahoo and Hotmail. Considering that these are the two most popular email services out there, that's going to result in an awful lot of false positives. Even worse, the school doesn't give out email addresses to its students -- so many of them use (you guessed it) Yahoo and Hotmail addresses, which are now useless for communicated with professors and staff. Obviously, not all spam filters work that well, but this seems like a really odd choice as a way to block spam. It's only going to block a small percentage of spam, and the amount of damage it does in blocking legitimate mail would likely go way beyond the benefits of stopping a few spammers.
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  1. identicon
    Rhelic, 18 Nov 2004 @ 6:30am

    No Subject Given

    This is hilariously absurd. What's next, are you they going to ban outside food on campus, and close the cafeterias at the same time?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Nov 2004 @ 6:30am

    Been doing this for years

    Actually, the ammount of mail from those two domains is huge - and our internal studies showed it was more than 95% spam. We haven't accepted mail for more than three years.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Gary, 18 Nov 2004 @ 11:35am

    No Subject Given

    I have blocked hotmail for years. Nothing but junk

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    steevo, 18 Nov 2004 @ 1:03pm

    We do this at work...

    For a major Manufacturer with many non company owned dealerships...

    No FREE email accounts (yahoo/hotmail) can get in..

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Dave Cotovsky, 18 Nov 2004 @ 1:17pm

    College Says No To Yahoo And Hotmail

    What about Lycos? What about those cheap, offshore ISP email programs? They consistently deposit tracking cookies on your system, unless you are very well armored. And maybe a distinction should be made between free Yahoo and a much higher class Yahoo serving DSL clients. This college is not solving its problem, but lending a false sense of security. There is a public need for a comprehensive blacklist so all email serving the spammers and hackers are identified and blacklisted.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    TJ, 18 Nov 2004 @ 6:50pm

    The good the bad and the...

    There are good spam filters, there are poor spam filters, and then there are downright stupid spam filters. As someone who manages a large network and a spam filter that is a blend of third-party "AI" routines and in-house keyword filters, I must say that filtering all e-mail from any free-mail domain is pretty damn stupid. Quite a few people do use such accounts for real e-mail. We're also seeing a few systems that reject our outgoing e-mail because their software incorrectly evaluates SPF records. Again, stupid filtering.

    There is a fine line between productive spam filtering and detremental spam filtering, and any numb-nuts that thinks filtering on a domain name alone is worthwhile falls into the numb category.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    john sprague, 9 May 2006 @ 6:49am

    hack into yahoo

    how do i hack into a yahoo account when everything i type as the password comes back wrong
    iv got all the info on the account except the answer to the secret question or i would just reset it .
    someone help me hack into this acccount and get the password. lilmommie1234@yahoo.com
    and send me the password at john.j.sprague@us.army.mil this is for real.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Mr. Alan Smith, 3 Oct 2007 @ 8:03pm

    REPRESENT OUR COMPANY .... EARN 10% COMMISSION!

    SKA JEWELLRY AND FABRICS
    Flat 485 Clifford house 7-9 Clifford street
    York YO1 9RA England.
    +44702-408-7691

    Hello,

    How are you today hope everything is quite okay with you,Just want to
    inform you about this job whether you will be intrested or not, My name is
    ALAN SMITH, Me and my wife owns a company that PRODUCES AND SELLS JEWELLRY
    AND FABRICS , WE are looking for a trustworthy representative in
    USA,EUROPE,AUSTRALIA that can help as a link between we and our client
    over there. We would like to know if you are interested to work from home
    for us.

    SIMON KAY COMPANY needs a book-keeper or representative in the
    USA,EUROPE,AUSTRALIA , so We want to know if you will like to work online
    from home and get paid weekly without leaving or affecting your present
    job.

    We presently run a JEWELLRY COMPANY in Hong Kong and we also have a
    company in the Uk we are in need of someone to work for the company as a
    representative/book keeper in ,USA,EUROPE,AUSTRALIA.

    Our company produces also various clothing materials, batiks, assorted
    fabrics and traditional costumes. We have clients we supply weekly in the
    USA,EUROPE,AUSTRALIA or and my clients make payments for our supplies
    every week .so we need someone in the USA,EUROPE,AUSTRALIA to work as our
    representative and assist us inprocessing the payments from our clients
    and We will pay him/her a weekly wage, by percentage.

    You dont need to have an Office and this certainly wont disturb any form
    of work you have going at the moment. Our Clothing materials, batiks,
    assorted fabrics and traditional costumes. Order processing, production
    monitoring and process flows are seamlessly integrated through a
    company-wide computer network.

    * The average monthly income is about 3,000.
    * No form of investments from you.
    * This job takes only 1-3 hours per days.

    Your tasks are:

    1. Receiving payment's in form of check from our Customers.
    2. Cash check at your Bank.
    3. Deduct 10% which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed.
    4. Forward balance after deduction of percentage/pay to any of the offices
    you will be contacted to send payment to. (Payment is to be forwarded
    either by Money Gram or Western Union Money Transfer).

    Local Money transfers take barely hours, so it will give us a possibility
    to get customer's payment almost immediately. For example you've got 4,000
    you take your income 400 Send to us: 3,600 First month you will have 1-5
    transactions, after establishing a close co-operation with us you'll be
    able to operate with larger orders and you'll be able to earn more.

    Our payments will be issued out in your name and you can have them cashed
    in your bank. Deduct your weekly salary and forward the balance to the
    company via western union money transfer or as instructed by our company.

    We understand it is an unusual and incredible job position. This job takes
    only 1-7 hours per week. You'll have a lot of free time doing another job
    you'll get good income and regular job.

    Here is the attached employment form if really you want to be our
    representative. Please get back to me as soon as possible so that you will
    be update quickly about the next step and let you know when you will be
    recieving the first payment.

    EMPLOYMENT FORM
    FIRST NAME:............. ;SURNAME:.........
    ADDRESS:.....
    CITY:......
    STATE:......
    ZIP CODE:......
    COUNTRY:.....
    PHONE NUMBER:.....
    OCCUPATION:........ ;GENDER:......
    MARITAL STATUS:....
    AGE:.....
    NATIONALITY:....

    NB: Please all replies should be sent in not more than 5 days of recieving
    this message.

    Pls reply back to this email: alansmith@info.lt

    Thanks and I await your quick response.

    Mr. Alan Smith.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    kamikaze, 16 Apr 2008 @ 9:43am

    Re: REPRESENT OUR COMPANY .... EARN 10% COMMISSION!

    LOOK at The Address EXACTLY the same. Different Company and Person. WHAT A SCAM !!!!!!


    Dear Candidate,

    We have a JOB OFFER available for you in response to your initial
    request in the Job search directory.We are a company based in United Kingdom
    ,we have been receiving orders from NORTHERN AMERICA, AUSTRALIA,
    UNITED KINGDOM EUROPE AND ASIA which we have not been able to process
    competently since we do not have a payment receiving personnel in these
    Areas.

    We have decided to Recruit Payment Officers Online hence we will need
    are preventative to process our payments in these areas, this is due to
    delays in processing payments from these areas in South American.

    WHAT WE DO OFFER;

    Flexible program:Two hours / day at your choice, daytime and evening
    time Work at home: Checking e-mail and going to the bank Part time or
    full time Professional contact team with very good support and
    communication skills.Other highlights:

    No selling involved, no kit to buy, we won't charge you anything.

    Monthly salary: You would be paid $1000 every two weeks to a total of
    $10,000 per month.
    Commission : 10% of every Money Order/Check that is cashed instantly
    "cash in hand "or" cash on counter" is what you get from the total
    cashed amount.

    EXAMPLE:
    If you receive a check of $5,000.00 your net income is $500.00, our
    company supports any fees. You will process at least 2-3 orders per day
    and you will earn more than $1,000.00 cash in hand each day.

    REMEMBER: THE MORE ORDERS YOU PROCESS- AT A FASTER RATE THE HIGHER YOU
    STAND TO EARN DAILY.

    What we ask:Two free hours daily not including weekends, Internet
    access for sending and receiving e-mails, available means of cashing money
    orders/checks at the nearest cashing point.

    IMPORTANT:

    1) You must be over 18 years of age.
    2) U.S.A, UNITED KINGDOM, CANADIAN ASIA OR AUSTRALIAN CITIZENSHIP.

    EXAMPLE OF THE OFFER : You will receive check for $5000 and you will
    go deposit the check in the bank & once the money cleared , you will
    deduct 10% of the money & we shall forward to you our instruction {
    Information } on how you will Transfer the remaining funds via WESTERN UNION
    TRANSFER OR MONEY GRAM TRANSFER .

    Our company is Legal & we have offer different Job to many Worker's
    They happy with the Company alwatys and have Happy Home .

    If you meet these conditions and wish to apply send this reference
    position number # QPSDA 3372 and please contact our recruiting manager
    through this e-mail address ( craftmediadepartment@hotmail.com )to receive
    a Representative Contract agreement. Please ensure you add your Full
    Details.....

    MAKE SURE YOU REPLY WITH THE COMPLETE DETAIL ASKING BELOW, SO YOU CAN
    QUALIFY FOR THE OFFER .


    FULL NAME .....
    Contact Residential Address, ( NOT PO BOX )...
    State.......
    City.......
    Zip Code......
    Country......
    Phone Number / Fax numbers for quick delivery of payments......
    Present Occupation...
    E-mail .......
    Sex......
    Age.....
    Marital Status.......


    We will never ask you for anything more then that, no bank names, no
    bank account number, routing number, credit card, passwords, ssn # etc.
    If anyone asks for those on our behalf please do not give out this
    info.This is to ensure your security and non involvement in cases of
    Identity Theft.

    Thank You for taking your time to read our offer.

    My Regards....


    CRAFT MEDIA FABRIC COMPANY.
    Flat 485 Clifford house 7-9 Clifford street
    York YO1 9RA England.
    Phone : +447031922972
    (c) Copyright Reserved 2008

    Mr Geoffrey H. Davis @ MD Department

    link to this | view in thread ]


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