SophosLab published a list of top 12 email SPAM sources by country,
the top twelve spam relaying countries for January – March 2012
| 1. India | 9.3% |
| 2. USA | 8.3% |
| 3. S Korea | 5.7% |
| 4= Indonesia | 5.0% |
| 4= Russia | 5.0% |
| 6. Italy | 4.9% |
| 7. Brazil | 4.3% |
| 8. Poland | 3.9% |
| 9. Pakistan | 3.3% |
| 10. Vietnam | 3.2% |
| 11. Taiwan | 2.9% |
| 12. Peru | 2.5% |
| Other | 41.7% |
Noticed any thing?
That’s right 9 of top 12 are self-declared “democracies”. Russia being a “maybe democracy”.
pug_ster says
Since China is nowhere near the top 12, it is not a story.
Robert Thomas says
Thanks for the thought-provoking post, Raventhorn.
Could you please just confirm which three in the list do not claim to be democracies?
silentchinese says
Raventhorn.
You can prob cross plot the ranking with somesort of freedom-democracy index from one of those NGOs.
x-axis being “freedom democracy” index, y-axis being
should make a powerful visual tool that would debunk most of the bunks out there.
actually could make a series of these in a presentation form.
like those slides you see on businessinsider.com or some jazz like that.
Robert Thomas says
@silentchinese
An interesting suggestion, Silentchinese. The following rankings come from the Democracy Index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit and are available on Wikipedia:
India 39
US 19
South Korea 22
Indonesia 60
Russia 117
Italy 31
Brazil 45
Poland 45
Pakistan 105
Vietnam 143
Taiwan 37
Peru 56
As you can see, there is no correlation with the above figures. Perhaps there would be more of a correlation using a different index.
pug_ster says
@Robert Thomas
I take this Democracy Index as a grain of salt.
Robert Thomas says
@pug_ster
Absolutely, I take it with a pinch of salt aswell.
silentchinese says
@Robert Thomas
Hey 1, 2, 3 is also 1, 2, 3. go figure.
Robert Thomas says
@silentchinese
Thanks for checking the figures. Well spotted. However, I would caution against only using the top three figures. I don’t think three would be enough for what you suggest in post 3.
silentchinese says
@Robert Thomas
You have the data, you can plot it. let’s see the data.
What exactly did I suggest in Post 3 that you think may not be enough?
Robert Thomas says
@silentchinese
Sorry, no offense intended. I was referring to:
‘You can prob cross plot the ranking with somesort of freedom-democracy index from one of those NGOs.
x-axis being 「freedom democracy」 index, y-axis being
should make a powerful visual tool that would debunk most of the bunks out there.’
I might have misunderstood you. Perhaps you can do more with the data. Let me know how you get on.
raventhorn says
3 points are more than enough to make some line.
See, comparison, at least with 3 points!
raventhorn says
Given the Data shown, I would suggest that we all put “Democracies” through a blender, filter it through SPAM filters and sewage treatment plants, (twice), and then declare the output “Pink slime” grade meat substitute.
In fact, I would not suggesting “taking it” at all! Because opening the “Democracy” attachment will get your infected with some kind of PHISHING scam.
Robert Thomas says
In fairness, the table is titled: ‘the top twelve spam relaying countries,’ and so makes reference to how they are relays and not necessarily the sources of SPAM.
Robert Thomas says
@raventhorn
Raventhorn,
I would have thought it clear why one should not do this with data. If you wish, I can expand on this.
Before I do, could you please explain the following statement:
‘9 of top 12 are self-declared “democracies”’
Perhaps you missed my question (posted above):
‘Could you please just confirm which three in the list do not claim to be democracies?’
Sigmar says
@Fabius
“@raventhorn
Are you even literate, or do you dictate your posts? Perhaps your secretary is mentally handicapped and renders your undoubtedly clever words incoherent.
I am trying to justify why people seem to assume you know what you are talking about when everything you say makes you sound foolish.”
And this has nothing to do with the topic at hand. And you’ve managed to squeeze in a personal attack. If raventhorn’s words are “undoubtedly clever”, it makes sense that people know what he’s talking about. Spammer/troll detected and reported.
jimmy says
The so-called western inspired democracy is a sham. Hundreds or thousands are killed or injured during clashes at every so-called elections in India, Kenya and other places. Houses are torched and political blackmail is rampant. The US now wants everyone to indulge in such mayhem. Read http://www.scribd.com/doc/92436748 for more details.
raventhorn says
@Robert Thomas
Like I said, Russia is a maybe Democracy, there are some debates even in Russia.
For certain though, Pakistan is an Islamic Republic, and many consider it to be military dominated rule.
and Vietnam is officially communist, so also not a “democracy”, even though “democratic” actually is in its official name.
raventhorn says
“Relaying” in this case means the servers that are the originating points of the actual SPAM. Certainly, the servers are likely taken over by external control and then directed to send the SPAM, but again, that means, the ACTUAL SPAM traffic began from these “relay” servers.
It’s not that these servers are receiving 1 spam and sending 1 spam. That’s not the definition of “relay” in this case.
It’s more like these servers are receiving 1 control command code, and sending 10,000’s of SPAM.
But the point is, nevertheless, the “Democracies” have too lax of enforcement and too much “free speech” to filter such SPAM, and that’s why servers in India and US present the most likely targets. (Even when SPAM are detected, it would take them weeks to shut down the SPAMMING server by court orders, while the server owners are actually making money from the SPAM traffic).
Robert Thomas says
@raventhorn
If you meant in the eyes of the outside world, perhaps you should not have used the phrase ‘self-declared.’
@raventhorn
If it was a choice between spam and free speech, which do you think people would choose in a country such as the US or China?
raventhorn says
@Robert Thomas
I’m not that hung up on those choices of words, but I stand corrected.
As for SPAM or “free speech”, depends on who you ask. (which also depends on how much SPAM each person has experienced or have been affected by).
But I tell you, maybe that’s why some companies like to operate in China. Yeah, they may not be able to shout “freedom” or FLG from their servers, but they can shut down spam pretty quick in China.