Well this makes it official, monkeys.com has regrettably thrown in the towel.
Bill ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ronald F. Guilmette" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, September 22, 2003 4:40 PM Subject: BLOCK,MISC: MONKEYS.COM: Now retired from spam fighting > It is with deep regret that I must announce that by 12:00 PM > Pacific Daylight Time tonight, September 22nd, 2003, all > anti-spam services and information that are now, or that > have been provided by MONKEYS.COM to the Internet community > will be terminated. All spam related information will be > removed from the MONKEYS.COM web site and all anti-spam DNS > zone files of MONKEYS.COM will be completely emptied of their > contents. > > Please note that the various MONKEYS.COM anti-spam DNS zone > files will continue to exist, for the indefinite future, > for the convenience of the community, but they will contain > no lisings of any IP addressese or address blocks. I want > to assure everyone, most solemly, that I have no plans whatso- > ever to implement any sorts of ``positive response'' wild- > cards in any of these zones (as happened, unfortunately, in > the Osirusoft case). The MONKEYS.COM anti-spam zones will > remain accessible, but content free for an absolute minimum > of 6 months, and even after that time, ample prior notice > will be provided, both here and elsewhere, regarding any > changes. > > As those of you who have come to know me over the past 8+ years > of spam fighting surely know, I am deeply sorry that I have > to withdraw from this fight, but at this point I clearly > have no choice. I rode out the first massive DDoS against > my site, which lasted for 10 days, from August 19th through > the 29th, but over the past three days I have been massively > DDoS'd again, and I think that the handwriting is now on the > wall. I will simply not be allowed to continue fighting spam. > It simply isn't an option anymore. I don't have either the > bandwidth or the level of interest among either big network > providers or law enforcement authorities that is clearly > necessary in order to fight this kind of concentrated onslaught > from thousands of separate zombie machines at a time. I would > be the first to say that it is a damn shame that the bad guys > have won yet another round, but their really isn't a damn thing > that I can do about it. If there are people on the net that can > DDoS the likes of Yahoo and eBay out of existance (as happened > in the year 2000), then little Ron Guilmette and Monkeys.Com hasn't > got a chance. I can't fight the kinds of attacks that have been > directed at me recently any more than I can fight against the sun > coming up tomorrow. > > To those of you who have come such a long way with me in this > fight, and even to all of those who have criticized my methods, > over time, I want to say thank you. Thank you even for disagreeing > with me when I needed it, and I hope that you will all accept my > apologies for letting you down. I confess that I underestimated > the enemy rather badly. I underestimated both the enemy's level > of sophistication, and also the enemy's level of brute malevolence. > I always knew that spammers had no principals and no ethics, but > up until recently, I had no idea that they could or would stoop this > low, or that they would engage in quite this level of criminality. > I guess that naively, I just never thought hard enough about how > much money was actually at stake (in the spamming trade) or what > that might mean in terms or the determination of spammers to win > at all costs. > > I don't know what else I can or should say at this point, other > than that it is my fervent hope that people of good will and good > intentions, people who believe in common values like civility, > honesty, decency, and privacy, will someday be able to take back > the net from the criminals who are clearly in the driver's seat at > the moment. Sadly though, I have to say that I am not hopeful that > this will occur anytime soon. Losing a few anti-spam sites is not > something that is likely to grab either the attention of, or even > the notice of John Q. Surfer. Strange as it may sound, the only > real hope that I have for the near term is that some egomaniac > miscreant with a desire for publicity will DDoS the web sites of > both the Democratic and Republican National Comittees out of ex- > istance. Preventing DDoS attacks an/or finding their perpetrators > in not likely to be a priority for either manufacturers of network- > ing gear or for large backbone companies until such an event, and > until people with the clous necessary to move things off dead-center > are impacted as I have been. > > > Regards, > rfg > > > P.S. I may still post the odd occasional personal oninion to the various > anti-spam lists and newsgroups, but I clearly am no longer in a postion > to make suggestions to anybody about anything when it comes to fighting > spam. I took my best shot, at trying to leap tall buildings in a single > bound, and all I did was to make some high scuff marks on the wall. I > thus no longer have any real standing to comment on what anybody else > may be doing in the way of anti-spam efforts, and all I can do is to > wish you well and the best of luck. > > P.P.S. I should perhaps offer a special apology to SpamHaus, to MAPS, > and to the many other such groups that will continue to try to withstand > this onslaught. I am especially sorry that I have let all of you down, > and that I won't be able to draw any fire away from you folks any more. > I wish you better luck (and more friends and bandwidth) than I had. > ------------------------------------------------------- This sf.net email is sponsored by:ThinkGeek Welcome to geek heaven. http://thinkgeek.com/sf _______________________________________________ Spamassassin-talk mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/spamassassin-talk
