Confusion About Referer Spam Can Have Unexpected Consequences

As referer spam continues to be reported in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, we see occasional signs of confusion.

Some blog owners, knowing how to use WhoIs lookups and similar online utilities, to their advantage, are looking up the referer spam targets - and are reporting the targets to their registrars and hosts. What these blog owners may not realise is that not all apparent "customers" of referer spam "services" may have actually contracted to be featured in the services.

In October - November 2011, this blog was featured in one wave of referer spam.

Somewhere, buried deep in my comment moderation queue for this blog, may be some odd comments

Chuck, I clicked on a link in my Stats log, and got this blog. Your blog does not link to my blog - so why do my Stats displays link here?

When I saw one such comment, I thought that it was just some spammer, messing with me - as many do (which is why I moderate comments, aggressively). As more such remarks appeared, both here and in Blogger Help Forum, I realised that what I had idly expected, long ago, had actually come to pass.

I've been using this blog, since I started it, as a weapon against spamming activity in general. In February 2011, I started using it as a weapon against referer spam. I did both knowing well that if I was ever seriously effective in my fight, the guys who I became effective against would eventually attack me.

In October 2011, I realised that my dream had become true. I was honoured by the providers of referer spam, as someone worthy of their attention. In spam fighter parlance, I was the victim of a "Joe Job".

Just as surely as I, personally, was a Joe Job victim, I know that other honest and righteous blog and website owners are similarly being attacked by referer spam, in other Joe Jobs. I know that I am not the only fighter of spam, worthy of the attention of the spammers.

Once we understand that not all blogs or websites featured in referer spam activity may be actual intentional customers of referer spammers, we have to realise that unfocused reporting of blogs and websites, mentioned in referer spam, will actually play right into the hands of the referer spammers.

What the referer spammers are doing, in their Joe Jobs, is also called a "Smurf Attack". The spammers are hoping that thousands of angry Blogger blog owners will report the blogs and websites, featured in the spam, as spam customers. This will cause the immediate recipients of the Smurfing, the registrars and Internet Service Providers, to discontinue service to the reported blogs and websites. In 2011, with such reporting taken seriously, this blog might have been damaged.

Hopefully, most ISPs and registrars know of Joe Jobs and Smurf Attacks - and know how to verify the nature of any individual service being reported for spamming. However, that's simply a complication which can have other effects.

The bottom line is that anybody seeing the referer spam, in their Stats logs, has to understand that not all blogs and websites should be reported for spamming. When you report all referer spam, indiscriminately, you are simply working for the spammers.

Please, don't work for the spammers. The existence of this blog (and other, much more significant blogs and websites) may depend upon your discretion.

>> Top

Control The Email Settings, Relevant To Your Blog, Wisely

Some blog owners don't always think about the various email settings, which are part of their Blogger blogs, and the possible effects to their email - or somebody else's email.

There are several settings, where a blog owner may enter an email address.

• Email posts to
• Comment Moderation.
• Comment Notification Email.

These settings don't require acceptance by the recipient, making for some interesting possibilities for causing problems in other people's email, as well as one's own email.

There are several Blogger dashboard settings - related to post publication and to various commenting activities - with differing effect to one's own, or somebody else's, email.

• Settings - "Mobile and email" - "Email posts to" generates a minimally formatted text copy of each post, when published, to up to 10 email addresses.
• Settings - "Posts and comments" - "Comment Moderation" generates a minimally formatted copy of each incoming comment, before the comment is published - and allows moderation of the comment, while reading the email message - when the recipient has the proper authority.
• Settings - "Mobile and email" - "Comment Notification Email" generates a minimally formatted copy of each incoming comment, before the comment is published or rejected.

Since none of these settings require acceptance by the recipient, there are various possibilities for causing interesting email delivery.

Unlike various subscription services which use email, such as a FeedBurner Email Subscription service, an email address added to any of these three settings requires no formal acceptance. If a blog administrator should add an email address, whether their own (primary or additional personal email address), a willing friend or relative, or an unknown victim's address, there is no initial email sent to the recipient

You (or somebody else) has added this email address as a recipient of "Email posts to" / "Comment Moderation" / "Comment Notification Email". Do you approve of this additional traffic source to your email service?

or a similarly worded notification / approval. Given a clueless or malicious blog owner, it's possible that one (or all) of these settings could be used to harass an unwitting third party.

The "Email posts to" feature, also known as "BlogSend", generates a minimally formatted text copy of each post, when published, to up to 10 email addresses. This setting has been used, in the past, to provide distribution of newly published posts for private blogs, as well as a simple distribution for posts from public blogs.

Since it's limited to 10 entries, BlogSend does not provide a suitable service for any blog with a reader population of any appreciable size. For a blog owner with any technical experience, FeedBurner Email Distribution is a much better solution for post distribution - when the blog in question is publicly accessible.

For distribution of a private blog to more than 10 readers, one may use Google+.

The "Comment Moderation" and "Comment Notification Email" settings, used together, can generate interesting duplication of email to one's own (or somebody else's) email service. If these settings are made without thinking, some interesting confusion can result. Email addresses can be added to each of these settings without consideration of the relationship or level of authority enjoyed by the owner of the email address, relative to the blog in question.

Comment Moderation Email is presumed to generally be a function performed by blog administrators - but email resulting from this setting will be sent to anybody addressed. A blog administrator / member - or other non administrator of the blog or an unwitting stranger - will receive email suggesting several options,

Publish
Delete
Mark as spam

Moderate comments for this blog.

If the recipient is not an actual blog administrator, the links in the email provide confusion, and no result.

Comment Notification Email might be generally addressed to blog members - but is not necessarily limited. Since notification of comments is sent separately from moderation, recipients of a notification can become confused when they fail to find the comment, mentioned in the notification, present on the blog. A blog administrator, using either an email moderation message - or using the blog Comments wizard, may or may not decide to Publish - or to designate a comment as Spam - regardless of a notification message having been delivered to each designated recipient.

Comment notification email may look similar to comment moderation email, less the comment processing options - possibly causing more confusion. A blog owner, adding his own email address to both comment moderation and comment notification, may see the combination as unknown duplication. And blog owners may confuse the proper use of comment moderation and comment notification email.

A blog owner, transferring ownership of a given blog, may overlook updating of the email settings. A new blog owner, receiving a blog being transferred, may likewise overlook these settings, and may lack the associated email, until the omission is corrected.

Either the previous owner, or the new owner, may be confused temporarily - and may wonder why they are still getting email / not getting email, until they examine and correct the setting in question. Alternately, if someone's email address was added maliciously, by a blog owner intending to harass somebody, one can see interesting possibility for conflict.

>> Top

Submitting A Court Order To Google

Periodically, we have discussions in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about issues, that absolutely cannot be resolved in a forum problem discussion.

These issues will vary, by relationship to a given blog, as well as by nature of the offense perceived.

• Some blog owners have lost control of their Blogger account, and lack ability to recover control.
• Some people are offended by a Blogger blog, but an offense which may not constitute a Google TOS violation.
• Some people may believe that a Blogger blog name, in use by someone else, may reflect badly upon their hard earned business identity.
• Some people may be the survivor, in a relationship where the owner of a given blog is now deceased.

Some of these complaints may have been reported to Google, in an ongoing effort, for years.

We know that Google Legal has to take a conservative approach in evaluating the various complaints submitted to them, using the Google Content Removal process. Every complaint may involve a third party, who has equal rights that must be considered.

In cases where Google Legal must deny action, and generally will not respond to a submitted Content Removal form, the person making a complaint is advised to use the courts to verify his identity and / or legal relationship with the blog in question.

Anybody who does not receive appropriate response from Google Legal may hire a lawyer, start a lawsuit, and get a court order issued by a judge. A properly issued court order can be then submitted to Google using the Google Help: Submit a Court Order to Google form.

>> Top

The Internet Has Created Various Opportunities For Conflict

Most physical threats used to require physical proximity, to be seriously considered by the authorities.

Before the Internet became a reality, if you were to report a crime which involved a physical threat to you or some one whom you knew, chances are that you would be reporting a friend or relative - or at least a neighbour or somebody geographically close to you.

Now that the Internet is part of our daily lives, many Blogger blog owners, readers, and comment publishers - all of who use the Internet for various networking activities - have no idea of the possible international challenges involved in their activities. With the Internet involved, these dangers can come from somebody in another city, state, or country, who is a complete stranger to the potential victim.

Many people, offended or threatened by an abusive comment or post in a Blogger blog, immediately report their concern, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

The assumption made is that Blogger, when informed in the forum, will immediately remove the offensive or threatening content.

Not everybody realises that the varying nature of any given abuse, even when expressed in a Blogger blog, won't always be the responsibility of Blogger / Google to provide action. Some abusive content will require contact, with somebody in your local area.

Some abuse can be handled by your reporting it to Blogger / Google - and other abuse must be handled by the courts system - lawyers and judges, or by law enforcement.

• Assault, or serious threat of imminent physical damage / death, is a criminal issue, and should be handled by your local police.
• Battery, or actual physical damage / death, is likewise a criminal issue, and must be handled by your local police.
• Defamation (ridicule, slander, trash talk) is a civil or criminal issue, and must be handled by a lawyer and the courts system.
• Impersonation (identity theft) is a Google TOS issue, and can be reported using the Google Content Removal procedure.
• Harassment is a mild type of assault. It's generally a civil offense - and should be handled by a lawyer.
• Spam is a Google TOS issue, which generally cannot be reported, as it is automatically detected by the Blogger / Google Spam Classifier.
• Stalking is a criminal offense in many locales. It is a type of assault - and if you feel seriously threatened, may be handled by your local police.
• There are a variety of other Blogger / Google TOS issues, which are reported using the various Blogger / Google Abuse Reporting procedures. And, there are a variety of other civil and criminal issues, which must be handled by the courts system, and / or your local police.

You are responsible for reporting any offense accurately, and to the right agency - not solely to Blogger / Google. The above list is based upon USA legal terms. Other countries may use different definitions.

You need to understand the differences between Defamation and Impersonation, and other abuses, before attempting to report any threat to Blogger / Google. And, take action depending upon the medium used by the threat. Blogger / Google won't accept complaints about comments - as comments are jointly the property and responsibility of the blog owner, and of the comment publisher.

The bottom line here is that some Internet conflicts may take time and effort to resolve. The courts system, which is currently based locally and nationally, may have to evolve, as the Internet brings strangers together - and creates opportunities for conflict.

>> Top

Your Blog Address Is Unique - Though Many Other Identities Are Not

Occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, we see signs of people who don't understand the concept of unique Blogger identities - or contrarily, Blogger identities which won't be unique.

I can't publish my blog to the name that I want.

or

Another blog is using the same name as mine!

or

Someone is impersonating me!!

Some of these complaints are reasonable - and could keep a team of judges and lawyers very busy, for a while, when properly reported. Other complaints come from people who don't quite understand what identities in our Blogger blogs are uniquely our property - and what identities are not uniquely ours.

When you setup a Blogger blog, one of the first things that you must choose - and choose carefully - is the blog Address. Once you have chosen the Address for your blog - and until you successfully give up this Address, the chosen Address is yours, for eternity. Nobody else can use this Address, in publishing their blog.

You can change the Address (also known as the URL) of your blog, whenever convenient to you - but any change that you make is subject to availability, based on Addresses which may have been chosen by other people. And it is worth your while to plan any Address change, carefully.

When you setup a Blogger blog, and choose the Address, you also choose a blog Title, and Template. Anybody else, setting up their blog, may choose the same Title, and / or Template. Many people will choose the same Template as you do (and later customise their template, using the Template Designer). Similarly, anybody is free to choose any Title (and later change the title, whenever convenient to them).

A blog which simply uses the same Title as yours is probably not Impersonating you. A blog which contains content scraped from your blog, and with the same Title, may constitute Impersonation. Contrarily, a blog which simply contains content scraped from your blog, without impersonating, may constitute a copyright, or DMCA, Violation.

The Internet, in its ability to bring people together, is going to cause conflict. Some conflict will come from many different people, simply not understanding other peoples lifestyles and traditions. Other conflict will come from people intentionally abusing you.

You need to understand the differences between the various abuses, before attempting to report any perceived offense. You are responsible for reporting any offense to the right agency.

It's up to you to report impersonation, copyright violation, or other abusive content to the right agency - and it's up to each individual agency to decide whether or not to act upon your complaint. You must report any problems properly, for any action to be taken.

Comments, posted to various blogs, are handled differently. Blogger / Google considers comments published to blogs (and not dismissed as spam) to be a freedom of speech issue. Comments are jointly the property of the blog owner, and the publisher of each comment.

If someone else, publishing a comment, offends you, that is a concern which can be handled only by the blog owner. Blogger / Google, without a court order, will not get involved. If the blog owner permits anonymous comments, anybody can use any identity that pleases them. This may lead to apparent impersonation - but any impersonation conflicts will be up to the blog owner to resolve.

The bottom line here is that some Blogger / Google hosted problem content may require discretion and patience by you, for you and other people to receive appropriate treatment.

>> Top

Blogger Won't Censor Comments, Or Accept Abusive Comment Reports

We have seen this question, periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?

When will Blogger provide me with the option to block an abusive commenter, from my blog?

This is a request that simply cannot be fulfilled.

The issue of blocking individual commenters won't be solved by a new Blogger feature.

• It's technically impossible.
• It's contrary to Blogger policy.

Any abuser of Internet services (aka "hacker", "spammer", or "troll"), with any ability, knows how to create multiple Google accounts without effort. Blogger Engineering is unlikely to spend time developing a new feature ("Block this comment publisher") that will simply provide you with a false sense of security, have no effect in the long term, and require an unproductive use of their time.

If you realistically feel that a comment publisher represents a legal and physical threat to you, you should report the threat to your local police agency. Other than physical threats, Blogger regards comments as a "freedom of speech" issue. Comments published on your blog are jointly the property - and the responsibility - of the comment publisher, and you.

As the blog owner, you are allowed to choose which comments publish, or remain published, on your blog. You can moderate before, or after, comments are published.

If any comments offend you, moderate or delete them promptly. Concentrate on publishing your blog, and ignore the abuse. Eventually, the person abusing you will get bored, and move on.

>> Top

Reporting Illegal Activity In Blogger Blogs

Blogger / Google provides two forms, for us to use when reporting unacceptable content, in Blogger blogs.

• Blogger Help: Reporting abuse
• Google Help: Removing Content From Google

Each form has a different use - and both forms have their stated limits.

Neither form will produce an absolute, nor immediate, result. Google has to consider that either form may be intentionally misused, for various reasons, when evaluating any claim made.

We've known, for a while, of the various options to report Blogger blogs which violate Blogger or Google Terms Of Service. The option to report abusive blogs (aka spam hosts) has been an option since 2009. In 2010, Google added the complementary ability to report copyright violations. Recently, we see that the latter form, now titled Google Help: Removing Content From Google, has been expanded to include a dozen different Google services. The existing Blogger Help: Reporting abuse continues to be available.

The "illegal content" list for Blogger, in the Google Help page, has been expanded, since 2011 - though some selections, in the list, offer only a disclaimer. Removing Content From Google seems to cover clear cut legal issues - while problems reported using Reporting abuse appear to involve the complainants personal perception.

Regardless of which form is submitted, we must note here that all problem reports may not produce immediate - or appropriate - response. Also, strict attention to detail is required - your reputation may be on the line, with your abuse reports.

Blog Control And URL Availability Hacking - Four Sides Of The Same Story

Occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, we see various queries about our blogs, and how to gain or regain control.

• How do I get a blog, which is attacking me (impersonating me, insulting me, publishing my secrets), removed from Blogger?
• How do I claim a dormant URL?
• How do I recover control of my blog?
• My blog is now under somebody else's control! How do I get my blog back?

In some cases, all of these queries are simply one more attempt to gain control of a blog, or a URL. As we gain experience in reading between the lines in Blogger Help Forum, and as Blogger Support gains experience in researching blog histories, we can start to see patterns, and signs of multiple attempts to assume control of the blog - or the URL - in question.

Many blog or URL hacking attempts start quite innocently. Two of the more common ones are quite naive, and completely separate, tales.

• Some people want to recover control of their blog, after having forgotten the username / password.
• Other people want to start a blog - but find that the desired URL is not available.

Some people, denied recovery of the blog, because they can't prove ownership, will try another tactic.

I'll tell them that the blog was stolen from me. Surely if they think the blog was hacked, I can get it back, since I used to be the owner!

People trying to gain control of a dormant blog will likewise use their imagination.

If I get the blog deleted as spam, I can grab the URL. Surely a Dormant blog is just another type of Spam, in Blogger!

Unfortunately, these techniques have been used, already - and have resulted in still other tales of anguish.

It requires the wisdom of Solomon - and the patient persistence of Gil Grissom - to sort through the problems reports. Claims

I just graduated from college, and I can't use my email address to recover the password!

and

I just woke up from a 7 year coma, to find my family blog under control of a hacker!

and let us not overlook

My friend just died. Can I please have control of the blog, so I can put a notice to all of his friends, on the blog?

and

I never updated my Blogger only account to a Blogger / Google account - and I never got any email, warning me of the impending change!

All of these tales have enormous human interest - and seem to justify mercy for the plaintive requests.

Unfortunately, these stories - and others like them - are not always what they seem. What we sometimes see are the other side of the story.

• Attempts to steal control of an active blog.
• Attempts to gain control of the URL which would be perfect for their new blog, if only the URL was available.
• Attempts to probe and reveal the identity of a blog owner, who is guaranteed anonymous blog ownership, by Blogger policy.

So, if you beg and plead for attention

None of these tools help me, in the least. Can I please speak to a live human, so I can explain my special need?

Please, do not be surprised to be directed to read about why Blogger Help is the only contact, and why you absolutely must prove ownership of the blog, before being given control. And even the ultimate insult, you must provide a copy of the death certificate plus get a court order, as you grieve for the loss of your friend or loved one.

The bottom line here is that, if you intend to publish a Blogger blog, it is your responsibility - and only your responsibility - to maintain control of your blog. You are an adult (or are presumed to be one) - and you have responsibilities, as an adult.

>> Top