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SD-
This goes beyond the bots. Bots can only reach certain pages, but humans can go to "member information" pages and harvest whatever is on them.
Heck, there are even "factories" in China where teenagers are paid to play some of the online games and build "life" points and other virtual goods which are then SOLD for REAL MONEY on the aftermarket.
The problem is, no one is really willing to try stopping spam. Microsoft, Yahoo, and a couple of other names made a big statement about forming a consortium 3(?) years ago, nothing has come of it. There are ways to authenticate users and ways to blacklist ISPs (some of which seem to be state-sponsored spam harbors in the Orient and eastern Europe and parts of South America) but again, no one is willing to act.
Except, IIRC Comcast. One of the big ISPs in the US announced that any user caught sending out spam, zombie or not, would be disconnected and not allowed to connect again for life. All considered, not an unreasonable way to keep the drunk drivers off the information highway. People just don't give a damn, and it seems that everyone is content to let it alone until something major breaks--and the government comes in.
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