The Spam Writers are getting out of hand… I’m sick of them.

The hardest part of maintaining a blog, aside from writing, posting and promoting articles to various search engines, has got to be keeping spam out of the Comments. I use a great piece of software called Akismet which does a very good job of sending all spam comments to a page where I can review them (occasionally, about .005% of the time, it makes an error and labels a perfectly good comment as spam, and I have to reclaim it) and then, in one pass, I delete them all without really reading them.

My list of potential removables that I have primed Akismet for are any comments which are really not concerned with the post being commented on, but which are actually pieces of advertising in disguise… tricks to get people to go to their web sites for commercial reasons. These try to look like real comments, but, oddly enough, the texts of each one is a copy of another I’ve already seen… it’s like one robot is writing all these in quantity to my site and, I would imagine, many others.

Here are a couple of samples:

I was incredibly pleased to derive this website. I wanted to thanks for your time for this great read!! I as a matter of fact enjoying every small bit of it and I have you bookmarked to take a look at new stuff you blog post.

—

Thanks for honestly using permissible grammar. Approximately all sites were absolute gibberish. Astounding website & writing skills. You my friend have Talent! I just StumbledUpon this. Not bad. I’ll give it a thumbs up.

—

I enjoy reading a post that makes people think. Some genuinely exquisite posts on this internet site , thanks for contribution. Also, thanks for allowing me to comment!

—

I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I right on enjoying every limited bit of it. I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.

That last one is my favorite. “Every limited bit of it.”

One of the things the spam blocking software does is show you the URL you would go to if you happened to click on the comment to see more from the person who is “incredibly pleased to derive this website.” The sites they would take you to sell all kinds of things: motorcycles, South American real estate, jewelry… and penis enlargement programs!

Today I eliminated over 60 spam messages which led to penis enlargement programs… at least half of them to the same user’s site, posted at comments on virtually every post I’ve put on this blog in the past two years. Some were even comments on ILLUSTRATIONS within posts (like the Web Poppers that I use in articles like this.)

While I am happy that these are kept away from my readers, I am very tired of seeing them pop up for elimination. I imagine other bloggers have similar problems. I could avoid much of this by limiting comments to approved subscribers… or by eliminating comments all together. Neither of these things do I want to do. I have always enjoyed the on line “conversations” one gets into with legitimate readers and I don’t want to change my policy.

It would be much better if these creeps heeded the anti-spam warnings I put near the top of my right column. Or maybe they would realize that their post like “Your well thought out ideas upon new approaches on this subject matter were insightful and an excellent help to us. Thank you for having time to write down these things as well as sharing your ideas” never shows up on Under The LobsterScope.

But they persist.

If any of them are reading this post, LAY OFF! Go comment on someone else’s page… perhaps one of those dating sites or a nice religion post. Or maybe a politician’s campaign website. You won’t get posted here.

Related Articles

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• Some insight on “comment spam” (cartesianproduct.wordpress.com)
• Akismet Asteroids (xeer2000.com)
• Akismet Angst (clickfire.com)
• How Far Should We Go In The Fight Against Spam | Anti Spam. (antispam.cz.cc)

OK, I’ve Changed the Look of Under The LobsterScope

It has been a year and I had gotten tired of the previous design, so I’ve made a change in the look of Under The LobsterScope. It still has the same kind of commentary… you won’t miss Cartoon(s) of the Week or any of the Quotes… it’s just going to look different. And I hope nicer.

For you WordPress users, I’ve adapted a theme called “Mystique,” which I spent time on today. I chose the two column version and had to adapt my old three-column stuff to the new format. I wanted to make the space for articles wider and more prominent.

Anyway, let me know what you think… just click on the mailbox and send me a note.

- Bill

Al Franken vs. Steve Jobs: Why are you tracking our locations?

Your iPhone may be tracking your every move and Senator Al Franken, with Congressman Ed Markey, has set out to do something about it.

From HuffPo:

Researchers found that iPhones and iPads track and record users’ locations by latitude and longitude, sometimes hundreds of times a day, for up to a year, storing the file in an unencrypted format on the device.

Franken highlights some of the potential dangers of this system, noting someone in possession of a stolen iPhone or iPad could “easily download and map out a customer’s precise movements for months at a time.” The senator also points out that there’s no indication the software can tell the difference between minors and adults meaning that “the millions of children and teenagers who use iPhone or iPad devices also risk having their location collected and compromised.”

I’m going to reproduce Franken’s letter to Apple Chairman Steve Jobs here:

Mr. Steve Jobs
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 90514

Dear Mr. Jobs, 

Sen. Al Franken

I read with concern a recent report by security researchers that Apple’s iOS 4 operating system is secretly compiling its customers’ location data in a file stored on iPhones, 3G iPads, and every computer that users used to “sync” their devices. According to the researchers, this file contains consumers’ latitude and longitude for every day they used an iPhone or 3G iPad running the iOS 4 operating system-sometimes logging their precise geo-location up to 100 times a day. The researchers who discovered this file found that it contained up to a year’s worth of data, starting from the day they installed the iOS 4 operating system. What is even more worrisome is that this file is stored in an unencrypted format on customers’ iPads, iPhones, and every computer a customer has used to back up his or her information. See Alasdair Allen & Pete Warden, Got an iPhone or 3G iPad? Apple is Recording Your Moves (Apr. 20, 2011), available at http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/04/apple-location-tracking.html. 

The existence of this information stored in an unencrypted format-raises serious privacy concerns. The researchers who uncovered this file speculated that it generated location based on cell phone triangulation technology. If that is indeed the case, the location available in this file is likely accurate to 50 meters or less. See Testimony of Michael Amarosa, Before the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, June 24, 2010 at page 7 available at http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/Amarosa100624.pdf. Anyone who gains access to this single file could likely determine the location of a user’s home, the businesses he frequents, the doctors he visits, the schools his children attend, and the trips he has taken-over the past months or even a year. Cf: People v. Weaver, 909 N.E.2d 1195, 1199- 1200 (N.Y. 2009) (“What this technology yields and records with breathtaking quality and quantity is a highly detailed profile, not simply of where we go, but by easy inference, of our associations … and of the pattern of our professional and avocational pursuits.”). 

Moreover, because this data is stored in multiple locations in an unencrypted format, there are various ways that third parties could gain access to this file. Anyone who finds a lost or stolen iPhone or iPad or who has access to any computer used to sync one of these devices could easily download and map out a customer’s precise movements for months at a time. It is also entirely conceivable that malicious persons may create viruses to access this data from customers’ iPhones, iPads, and desktop and laptop computers. There are numerous ways in which this information could be abused by criminals and bad actors. Furthermore, there is no indication that this file is any different for underage iPhone or iPad users, meaning that the millions of children and teenagers who use iPhone or iPad devices also risk having their locationcollected and compromised. An estimated 13% of the 108 million iPhones and 19 million iPad devices sold are used by individuals under the age of 18, although some of these devices may not have been upgraded to iOS4. See AdMob, Admob Mobile Metrics Report at 5 (Jan. 2010), available at htt://metrics.admob.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/AdMob-Mobile-Metrics-Jan-10.pdf; Complaint of Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics CV-11-1846 at 4-5 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 15, 2011).

These developments raise several questions:

1. Why does Apple collect and compile this location data? Why did Apple choose to initiate tracking this data in its iOS 4 operating system?
2. Does Apple collect and compile this location data for laptops?
3. How is this data generated? (GPS, cell tower triangulation, WiFi triangulation, etc.)
4. How frequently is a user’s location recorded? What triggers the creation of a record of someone’s location?
5. How precise is this location data? Can it track a user’s location to 50 meters, 100 meter, etc.?
6. Why is this data not encrypted? What steps will Apple take to encrypt this data?
7. Why were Apple consumers never affiamtely informed of the collection and retention of their location data in this manner? Why did Apple not seek affirmative consent before doing so?
8. Does Apple believe that this conduct is permissible under the terms of its privacy policy? See Apple Privacy Policy at “Location-based Services” (accessed on April 20, 2011), available at www.apple.com/privacy.
9. To whom, if anyone, including Apple, has this data been disclosed. When and why were these disclosures made?

I would appreciate your prompt response to these questions and thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Al Franken

United States Senator

So the next time you make a call on your iPhone or bring up the web on your iPad, you should realize that you are not alone. And, by the way, if you thought you were beating the location cache problem by buying an Android device, you should be aware that they have been found to cache location data in a similar manner.

Gotcha!

Related Articles

• Are iPhones Tracking Us? Al Franken Wants Answers (techland.time.com)
• Senator Al Franken takes the iPhone location tracking issue to Steve Jobs (9to5mac.com)
• Dear Steve Jobs: Al Franken Has 9 Questions For You About Location Tracking (AAPL) (businessinsider.com)
• Congressmen Press Steve Jobs On iPhone Tracking (huffingtonpost.com)
• Steve Jobs, Come Clean! (thedailybeast.com)
• Franken questions Apple over tracking (cnn.com)
• iPhones, iPads secretly tracking user’s whereabouts (ctv.ca)
• Privacy concern: Your Apple tracks your location without your permission (wilderside.wordpress.com)