* * * * *
                                        
   Spammers—can't live with them, can't take them out behind the shed with a
                       sawed off double barrel shotgun …
                                        
I got my very first comment spam today, on my LiveJournal [1] account (which
has since been deleted):

> XXXXXXXX gives users access to some of the best games and reviews online.
> No need to waste your time looking for your arcade fix. XXXXXXXX.com is the
> hub of online gaming. Flash, Java and Shockwave powered high-quality games,
> 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! If you're not sure, you can choose trial!!!
> Vizit http://XXXXXXXXXXXX/
> 

When I saw that it was authenticated through OpenID [2] (see also: Wikipedia
[3]) my initial thoughts were: OpenID is dead. It's just too easy for
spammers to set up self-authorizing hosts (or obtain “accounts” at AOL
(America Online) [4] or even LiveJournal [5]).

Perhaps I'm overreacting. Perhaps spammers are only targetting accounts with
no (or very little) activity on them (I have the account to respond to
friends who do use LiveJournal; my posting an entry once-per-year is mostly a
joke). But I do expect to see more and more of this in the future.

[1] http://spc476.livejournal.com/
[2] http://openid.net/
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenID
[4] http://www.aol.com/
[5] http://www.livejournal.com/

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

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