Problems with MSN Messenger 7.5
A user over at Mess with MSN Messenger (no permalinks - written 30th August) has some interesting reflections upon the potential downside of MSN Messenger 7.5. Timothy writes:
‘The final release of MSN Messenger 7.5 brought a lot of new features, but one of those features is predestined to become a major spam magnet and Internet Explorer crasher. We are talking about the nifty msnim:// Internet Explorer protocol.
1) A simple JavaScript loop could crash Internet Explorer.
A rather simply crafted JavaScript (only 3 lines of code) could crash Internet Explorer and annoy the user before doing so. By keeping on calling the msnim:// inside a one millisecond timed loop, you can not get rid of the popup asking if you wish to start a conversation, and render Internet Explorer locked up.2) Easy bait for spam crawlers.
Only a few years ago spam companies realized that they could harvest e-mail addresses just by using an automatic webpage scanner, it took years to convince people not to publish their email address on a webpage because of this. This new protocol is by far most the easiest target for spam crawlers in the world, since the only way to start a conversation from a website is by putting your email address in the url… running around naked on the street with a four meter wide neon sign with your email address will probably generate less spam….’
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