Spam Wars [Paperback]

SPAM WARS, like many other wars we've known seem to go on and on with no apparent ending or resolution. You'll notice those other "spam" books suggested up there. I've read them too. And I've promoted them through AACUG, the User Group Network and the Design Bookshelf web sites. I've quoted them in the AACUG's Anti-Spam initiative. But this is probably the most important book about the genre -- the level-headed, common sense book about spam -- how to avoid it and fight it.

Danny Goodman helped millions of us become proficient computer users, and hyperscript programmers at the dawn of the desktop computing revolution. His level grasp of concepts coupled with his friendly manner made the world of computing understandable and comfortable. Now, he's taken up the torch to arm us and help us safely through the SPAM WARS.

This book does the best job I've seen to date on actually putting a finger on what spam is, who the spammers are, how they operate and what you can stand to lose if they get you in their grasp. Yea, I know -- you're going to say you've heard it all before. I thought I had heard it all before too. But Danny's presentation is very different from all the web sites and books on the topic. You really haven't heard it in the clear, understandable fashion presented in SPAM WARS.

Targeting the beginner, the uninitiated, and even a few of us 'old dogs', Danny walks the reader through the entire spectrum of spam. He covers the Government and Legislation. He addresses phishing, stalking, predators, zombies, and all the other evil tricks the denisons of the slime pits of spam employ to breach your walls. He guides you to understand how they work, what their goals are and how you can keep them from stealing, defrauding, misleading, and damaging you, your family and your loved ones. "Know Thy Enemy"

But this book is really not about spam fighting as popularized online. It's an education which imparts the knowledge necessary to effectively keep spam from harming you. Think of it as self-defense.

More importantly it's a call to the aid of your community -- learn the techniques of disarming the spammers at their very roots -- share that knowledge with every other computer user you know. Help those who are clueless, uneducated and at risk -- to understand how to guard themselves against the spam attack.

Danny shows you how to recognize it, how to handle it, and how to go after the spammer's most vulnerable spots.

You are now enlisted in the SPAM WARS. Here is your arsenal of weapons. Read it, learn it, act upon it, and then GIVE IT to your neighbor. Go out there and make us all proud.

Fred Showker

www.Design-Bookshelf.com

Spam Wars is truly a computer book for the twenty-first century. Award-winning technology interpreter Danny Goodman teaches readers Spam 101 followed by an intermediate course in Spam, including how to recognize spam, the importance of firewalls, spam, virus, spyware and malware filters that should be installed on every computer, and much more. In a day and age where the worst possible spam can lead to identity theft and worse, Spam Wars is much-needed reading for every small business and household that relies heavily upon computers and the internet. The basics for protecting oneself from attack are presented in plain terms that even the technologically clueless can quickly grasp, and special attention is given to the exploitable flaws in Microsoft Windows and the Outlook email program. Highly recommended.

Goodman writes mostly for the nontechnical email user, about the scourge of spam. He gives a very readable description of how email grew since 1969. Alas, as he points out, those were innocent days, when social pressure amongst the few academic users sufficed to restrict anything like spam. And besides, the audience was too small for spam to be economic.

But now with millions of users, spammers have great incentive to spam. The book takes you through nice descriptions of various spammer tricks. Also discussed are the main antispam ideas, like Bayesians, challenge response and blacklists. The conclusion is sobering. Goodman is unaware of any solution to this open wound. The spammer maggots continue to gorge themselves on the Internet.

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