Week 22 of POOP

Google's own help forums are full of spam for Bangalore escorts and such. We now know that Google knows about it but just doesn't give a shit.

Now it's been revealed that Google's discussion groups are being bombarded with spam that sends folks to Chinese-based websites that automatically download fake antivirus software.

The software is a scam that lists fake viruses in an effort to scare people into buying the program's full version.

Having been on the Internet for 15 years, I'd know not to click on these messages. But there's still folks who are just discovering what the Internet is all about, and they're none the wiser.

These spam posts have been afflicting Google for months now, but Google has yet to put a halt to it.

The spammers in this story are all using accounts from Google's Gmail. Gmail now requires users to provide a mobile phone number that accepts text messages, so why won't Google use that to trace the spammers?

That's because requiring a mobile phone number isn't to stop abuse, but to weed out customers Google deems "undesirable." It's elitism at its worst.

Long story short: Google is no longer interested in stopping spam.

(Source: http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/01/11/239899/rogue-anti-virus-software-targets-google-groups.htm;
http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/201002/5054/Google-Groups-used-as-launch-pad-for-Rogue-anti-Virus)