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  3. Bill Gates, then still Microsoft’s boss, was nearly right in 2004 when he predicted the end of spam in two years. Thanks to clev

Bill Gates, then still Microsoft’s boss, was nearly right in 2004 when he predicted the end of spam in two years. Thanks to clev

admin2012-12-30  53
问题     Bill Gates, then still Microsoft’s boss, was nearly right in 2004 when he predicted the end of spam in two years. Thanks to clever filters unsolicited e-mail has largely disappeared as a daily nuisance for most on the Internet. But spam is still a menace: blocked at the e-mail inbox, spammers post messages as comments on websites and increasingly on social networks like Twitter and Facebook. The criminal businesses behind spam are competitive and creative. They vault over technical fixes as fast as the hurdles are erected .
    The anti-spam industry has done laudable work in saving e-mail. But it is always one step behind. When filters blocked missives with tell-tale words such as "Rolex" or "Viagra", spammers misspelled them. When filters blocked mail from suspect network addresses, the spammers used botnets (networks of hijacked computers) instead. In the end, the software industry’s interest is in making money from the problem (by selling subscriptions to regular security updates) rather than tackling it at its source.
    Law-enforcement agencies have had some success shutting down spam-control servers in America and the Netherlands. Even Russia, where much of the world’s spam is spawned, has shown signs of cooperation. But as one place becomes unfriendly, spammers move somewhere else. Internet connections in poor and ill-run countries are improving faster than the authorities there can police them. That won’t end soon.
    In any case, the real problem is not the message, but the link. Sometimes an unwise click leads only to a website that sells counterfeit pills. But it can also lead to a page that infects your computer with a virus or another piece of malicious software that then steals your passwords or uses your machine for other nefarious purposes. Spam was never about e-mail; it was about convincing us to click. To the spammer, it is moot whether the link is e-mailed, tweeted or liked.
    The police are doing what they can, and software companies keep on tightening security. But spam is not just a hack or a crime, it is a social problem, too. If you look beyond the computers that lie between a spammer and his mark, you can see all the classic techniques of a con-man: buy this stock, before everyone else does. Buy these pills, this watch, cheaper than anyone else can. The spammer plays upon the universal human desire to believe that we are smarter than anyone gives us credit for, and that things can be had for nothing. As in other walks of life, people become wiser and take precautions only when they have learned what happens when they don’t.
    That is why the spammers’ new arena—social networks—is so effective. People follow Twitter feeds from people they would like to know and make "friends" on Facebook whom they do not know at all. Hijack one such account, and you can exploit a whole network of trusting and trusted contacts.
    A few fiddles might help, such as tougher default privacy settings on social networks. But the real problem is man, not the machine. Public behaviour still treats the Internet like a village, in which new faces are welcome and anti-social behaviour a rarity. A better analogy would be a railway station in a big city, where hustlers gather to prey on the credulity of new arrivals. Wise behaviour in such places is to walk fast, avoid eye contact and be brusque with strangers. Try that online.
We know from the passage that when we receive e-mails, we should
选项 A、recognize the counterfeit websites.
B、watch out for malicious software.
C、be cautious of clicking the link attached.
D、take particularly care of social networks.
答案C
解析 推断题。按照试题顺序及选项中的counterfeit定位至第四段。首句为该段主题句“In any case，the real problem is not the message，but the link．”，结合倒数第二句“Spam was never about e-mail；it was about convincing us to click．”可以推断出[C]为答案。
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