Via Jeneane Sessum I jumped onto Doc's thread about the splog problem and his supposition that its ultimate roots lie deeper inside the homogeny and monoculturalism in the tech world. He raises some interesting questions I'd love your feedback on: Do you think Google has become a monoculture in search and advertising both? How big is the problem of link devaluation, and can the splog problem be solved by rethinking the concept of page-rank? And more largely — how do we take concrete steps to move towards polyculture in search, in advertising, in the workplace, in the tech industry?

Chris Pirillo is hopping mad about a recent swarm of search spam coming from one rather conspicious domain: blogspot.com. The accusation is that, for whatever reason, it's far too easy for spammers to send posts through the Blogger system, leading to thousands of splogs spewing search spam on various keywords. One suggestion is to add a captcha hoop before posts are made live, as Blogger has done with comments. The other suggestion is, um, a bit less favorable — kill Blogger altogether. Anyone else have thoughts on this issue? Are you seeing a sudden influx of spam in any of your subscribed searches?

The Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General is on the hunt for one Leo Kuyeyev, leader of the "Internet Spam Gang" who received a crackdown this week from a Boston judge who fined the illegal spam operation $37 million. Attorney General Tom Reilly brought the suit against Kuvayev and six others with ties in Massachusetts in May, and civil charges were brought against the group this week in order to quickly shut down the spam ring. U.S.-based ISPs have since shut down the Kuvayev operation, which is charged with sending millions of messages soliciting online users with illegal products ranging from counterfeit drugs and pirated software to porn, phony designer watches, and mortgage loans. Kuvayev and one other member of the group are believed to be in Russia; the whereabouts of the remainder of the group are unknown.

VeriSign purchased Weblogs.com, the blog pinging service brainchild of Dave Winer, for $2.3 million, with one of the expressly stated goals listed as entering the fight against spam blogs (or splogs, as they're not so affectionately known). The number of splogs is currently growing at a faster rate than regular blog growth, according to Michael Graves, techno-evangelist (wicked job title!) at VeriSign. He indicates that combating blog spam faces many of the same challenges currently plaguing the email world in its own struggle against spam, and goes on to posit that "many will want to take advantage of filtering services in much the same way that mail users see value in spam filters for their email inbox." I imagine the first item on VeriSign's agenda will be to shore up the infrastructure of Weblogs.com, currently struggling under the weight of upwards of two million pings per day — but I, for one, will welcome the efforts of our splog-fighting overlords once they put some weight behind it — and the sooner the better!

The Weblogs, Inc. network features over 100 independent, unfiltered bloggers producing over 1,000 blog posts a week across over 75 industry-leading blogs. Each week we ask our bloggers to choose their top posts, which we bring to you in one easy-to-read weekly post. You'll find links to the hottest posts from the past week after the jump including TiVo's new cancellation fee, sushi etiquette, and iTunes for Windows Mobile.

The Weblogs, Inc. network features over 100 independent, unfiltered bloggers producing over 1,000 blog posts a week across over 75 industry-leading blogs. Each week we ask our bloggers to choose their top posts, which we bring to you in one easy-to-read weekly post. You'll find links to the hottest posts from the past week after the jump including the Macromedia MAX ticket giveaway and exclusive Treo 700w information.

Chalk up a win for cellphone owners in the battle against unsolicited text ads sent to their handhelds. An Arizona appellate court has ruled that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 prohibiting the use of autodialers to call cellphones does apply to the sending of e-mail or text messages with unsolicited advertisements. What makes this ruling so unique is that text messaging did not even exist in 1991, but the court said the law was written in a way that anticipated advances in automatic telephone dialing technology.

The ruling upholds a previous ruling in favor of a man who sued the Acacia Mortgage Corp. because he claimed they sent two unsolicited text messages to his cellphone. Acacia argued that it only sent an e-mail and did not "call" Joffe's cellphone, but the court said their claim does not entirely paint the picture of the actions they took when they sent e-mail to indirectly to Joffe's cellphone via his service provider's e-mail system.

Now some may say that the guy overreacted and should have just deleted the text ads and leave it at that. But the fact that the mortgage company got a hold of his cellphone number through his service provider's e-mail system does sound a bit chilling. People do have a right to be left alone, and the mortgage company could have found another way to market their services without going to this extreme. Will this ruling put a stop to unsolicited text ads? Of course not, but it may cause a few companies to think twice before clicking the "Send" key.

The Weblogs, Inc. network features over 100 independent, unfiltered bloggers producing over 1,000 blog posts a week across over 75 industry-leading blogs. Each week we ask our bloggers to choose their top posts, which we bring to you in one easy-to-read weekly post. You'll find links to the hottest posts from the past week after the jump including a Macromedia MAX ticket for next to nothing, the Charles Bronson farm and the Nintendo Revolution controller. Plus, when your done with the full listing after the jump check out the Open Source Weblog for a special live blogging event today (September 17) only.

The Weblogs, Inc. network features over 100 independent, unfiltered bloggers producing over 1,000 blog posts a week across over 75 industry-leading blogs. Each week we ask our bloggers to choose their top posts, which we bring to you in one easy-to-read weekly post. You'll find links to the hottest posts from the past week after the jump including the Die Hard 4 foreshadow, and iPod cemetery, and a special request for a Macromedia donation. Enjoy the full listing after the jump.

The Weblogs, Inc. network features over 100 independent, unfiltered bloggers producing over 1,000 blog posts a week across over 75 industry-leading blogs. Each week we ask our bloggers to choose their top posts, which we bring to you in one easy-to-read weekly post. You'll find links to the hottest posts from the past week after the jump including coverage of the most overrated shows of all time, DVD disagreements, and even a Picasso. Enjoy the full listing after the jump.

The Weblogs, Inc. network features over 100 independent, unfiltered bloggers producing over 1,000 blog posts a week across over 75 industry-leading blogs. Each week we ask our bloggers to choose their top posts, which we bring to you in one easy-to-read weekly post. You'll find links to the hottest posts from the past week after the jump including a review of Google Talk, the latest television spoilers and a Flash-based gas pump. But first up is our newest blog, SlashFood. Enjoy.

Slashfood just opened for business, and we're already planning a Grilled Cheese party. Plus Karina Longworth makes fun of Gwyneth Paltrow's junk food intolerance and Keith McDuffee lists the top 25 food hacks.

The Weblogs, Inc. network features over 100 independent, unfiltered bloggers producing over 1,000 blog posts a week across over 75 industry-leading blogs. Each week we ask our bloggers to choose their top posts, which we bring to you in one easy-to-read weekly post. You'll find links to the hottest posts from the past week after the jump including a special review contest, celebrity virginity, and even the best Windows emulator for Mac. Enjoy!

A report from Ipswitch indicates that spammers don't like the heat; spam has fallen 20% since March. Whether it's the heat from the prosecuters attempting to make good on their CAN-SPAM threats, or heat from the good ol' sun, is yet to be determined. Ipswitch isn't calling the war "won," though - they're worried about the rise in phishing, from 9% to 12.5% of all emails. Mortgage and loan spam is still popular, but it's falling as an overall percentage of spam.

You're just going to have to follow the link and go see. It's spam (Viagra, Cialis, the usual) made like they used to do ASCII art. It's quite brilliant, and best of all - totally fools the filter. The letters from "I miss you I hope you are doing well have a nice day I hope you still remember me" are arranged to spell "Cialis $28" and other pharmaceutical-pushing (and filter-avoiding) messages.

The Weblogs, Inc. network features over 100 independent, unfiltered bloggers producing over 1,000 blog posts a week across over 75 industry-leading blogs. Each week we ask our bloggers to choose their top posts, which we bring to you in one easy-to-read weekly post. You'll find links to the hottest posts from the past week after the jump including an motion detection for Flash games, favorite Kids in the Hall moments and even a Spanish Autoblog announcement. Enjoy!