Clearing up some confusion...

Hey folks,

Evidently there's been some confusion about my relationship to 
SpamCop and how it relates to my deployment.

I am only a SpamCop user who volunteers my time to maintain this 
list. I am not associated with, employed with, or otherwise connected 
with SpamCop.

The fact that I am being deployed means only that this mailing list 
will fall into disuse while I'm gone. The SpamCop service itself is 
run by other individuals who's business it is to maintain SpamCop.

I suggested that people unsubscribe from *this mailing list only*, 
because of the likelihood in 2005 that people would forget they 
signed up, and report me as spam. If you're a SpamCop user or paying 
member, by all means, continue to use and support the service.

I just wanted to clear that up, as several people were wondering if 
the whole system would be going offline because I'm leaving. The 
short answer: No.

On a spam-related note, it would seem that a new virus is propagating 
for Windows machines that is designed to attack various anti-spam 
websites such as SpamCop and Spamhaus.org. SpamCop uses Akamai's 
distributed network to insulate against such attacks, and I've not 
noted any performance problems due to this attack. Spamhaus does not, 
and their website is slightly slower than before, but it still 
remains online. If you run the Windows operating system (why?!), it 
is strongly suggested that you update your virus definitions 
regularly (at least weekly). If you do not have anti-virus software, 
there is an excellent program called AVG at http://www.grisoft.com/ 
-- a free version is available for personal, non-commercial use.

See http://www.spamhaus.org/news.lasso?article=13 and 
http://www.spamhaus.org/cyberattacks/index.html for more information.

Cheers!
--

-- 
Pete Stephenson
HeyPete.com