Hijacking spammers botnets

[andrewducker]

Researchers in California took over part of the Storm botnet and usesd it to send spam to people so that they could monitor the response rate.

While the news that response rates are down to less than 0.00001% is fascinating (and gratifying), that they were using hijacked computers to send spam strikes me as ethically dubious to say the least.  I wish there was more information in the article on the legality of their work.

Comments

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

You can read the actual paper here.

[andrewducker]

Cheers - section 4.5 has what I wanted!

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

Fascinating article - and thanks to a_pawson for the link to the original paper.

I'm not sure I buy their view that they create no new harm, but I also think that what they have done is a very neat experiment - and one way to beat the spammers at their own game.

I cannot comment on the technical issues, but if these economists can hijack botnets, why can't other, legitimate agencies - for instance, to put the out of business? (I don't expect an answer!)