On Fri, 10 Feb 2006, Gary Wardell wrote:

Hi,

I've seen one or two blogs that suggest gmail has a potential as a source for anonymous SPAM and other abuses.

One said he blocks all gmail.

I'd be interested as to what others think.

Well after I posted to NANOG about gmail I found myself randomly added to a 'Google Group' about hacking... The 'welcome' message is attatched below. Frankly this just smells of 'abuse black hole' and I woulda thought that Google would know better. - No request for authentication or confirmation of the subscription request _before_ the victim starts receiving mail traffic. - Attempts to use the unsubscription tool result in the need to create a login account. - The 'report as abuse' link presents you with a form, which I used... Interesting however that the form was under groups.google.co.in (obviously the domain the offender uses.) - I'm now stuck with a subscription I don't want and an unsubscribe mechanism that is unacceptable. Among other things the email address I use generally is not the same as the one I use for gmail purposes (yes, i hold an account, used infrequently) and I don't particularly want the two tied together. 1) Interested to know if anyone else on NANOG has noted this behavior, 2) If anyone from Google or Gmail is represented on NANOG you may like to take a serious look into this... likewise i'd appreciate hearing back (off list) to confirm i've been removed from the group below and that you're considering improving your subscription mechanics! Cheers Mark. harpreet1977@gmail.com has added you to the hackers a to z group with this message: Fed up with worms, viruses and hackers messing with your computer? Want to know how they do it? How to defend? How to fight back? "You take the blue pill and the story ends.... Take the red pill and I'll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes," hackers-a-to-z@googlegroups.com Here is the group's description: Fed up with worms, viruses and hackers messing with your computer? Want to know how they do it? How to defend? How to fight back?"You take the blue pill and the story ends.... Take the red pill and I'll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes". Group Manager :Harpreet Singh Ahluwalia ----------------------- Google Groups Information ---------------------- The owner of the group has set your subscription type as "Email", meaning that you'll receive a copy of every message posted to the group as they are posted. To view this group on the web, or edit your subscription, you will need to create a Google Account by going to: *url snipped* Visit this group on the web by using this URL: http://groups.google.co.in/group/hackers-a-to-z You can unsubscribe from this group using the following URL: *url snipped* -------------------- Information About This Message -------------------- If you feel that this message is abuse, please inform the Google Groups staff by using the URL below. *url snipped*