NEC invents 99 percent effective SPIT catcher

Before we start, it'd probably be wise to point out that the SPIT we're referring to here is "Spam over Internet Telephony," not the stuff that formed those puddles around the iPhone booths the other week. NEC thinks that SPIT could potentially be the next big spam threat, and considering that SPIT combines the disruptive nature of junk phone calls with the ease of distribution of email based spam, it's easy to agree with this assessment. In order to preempt this threat, NEC has been hard at work on a piece of software called SEAL, which uses the Turing test to detect and then block any computer generated SPIT that it detects. A simulation showed that the SEAL software rejected 99 percent of the SPIT that it encountered: an impressive result, but the 1 percent that slips through could still potentially annoy a lot of people. Just think of how distracting each spam email that slips past your filter is, and then add the context of a ringing phone each time one arrives in your inbox: not cool. NEC hopes to improve the technology going forward, although as the current situation regarding email based spam shows, once the battle between prevention and the SPIT-spammers starts, it's unlikely to end decisively. NEC is showing off its SPIT-repelling SEAL software at the 3GSM World Congress 2007 this February and will continue to develop the solution until it's feasible to release it commercially.

[Via Digital World Tokyo]

[J @ Jan 29th 2007 10:56AM]

Why does Engadget always link to useless searches on Engadget about important subjects within the article. I didn't know what the Turing Test was, and the link to the search on Engadget didn't help. You know what did help? Wikipedia. Should have provided this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test

[Ben @ Jan 29th 2007 11:08AM]

I had to read the article twice before I really got what they *think* SPIT will be. They envision botnets generating SIP calls. I assume (since they don't specify) that these calls will deliver a recorded message, otherwise the Turing Test that they propose is worthless.

Why the fancy tech? Why not have a series of recordings "Please type" and the numbers 1-9. Software generates a few random digits, asks the caller to type them in - bingo. I don't really understand how they could create a better Turing test than that for a phone call. This really deserves a tradeshow booth and press release? If it's a real (and not invented by their PR flunkies..) threat, I'm sure the Asterik folks will have this feature implemented in no time.

[GreeneBastard @ Jan 29th 2007 1:46PM]

These a-holes should be treated as petty B&E criminals, and if the words Viagra, penis or sex are used(unsolicited) they should be required to register as sex offenders. We need to come up with a serious deterrent or these people will continue to cost us time and money.


OOOOOOOH!!!! How about, if convicted of spamming, you are required to pay out a portion of your income into a fund, and those of us who recieve spam will be cut a check proportoinate to the amount of spam e mails we recieve. After all they are taking our time, and that is theft of services.

GB