[axxs-sysadmin] SPAM, (was No Database connection for A-IMC)

[aketus]

Hey Dave,

I'm totally 100% in agreement about the actualy IP logging policy and  
I make no move to change the policy :) for precisely the reason that  
we have it..

I think in the case of maintenance, we should turn on IP logging  
*very* briefly in order to gather the info required to maintain, say  
in this case, Adelaide IMC (which in turn means maintaining the uptime  
of all the sites hosted on axxs.org by consequence), then switch it  
back off again and destroy the logs.

It would be embarassing if an entire server's amount of international  
activist sites suffered downtime due to the policies implemented by  
the activists themselves :) exceptions gotta be made I reckon, for a  
'greater good' concept that affects all the sites on axxs.org

Later tonight I will be back on IRC and try to round up 'quoll' to do  
the same, maybe then we can have a chat about how to secure any sort  
of information that could be used to block entrance to the site by  
spammers.

Have I got carried away with myself - from my own observations it  
appears AdelaideIMC is the suffering site that is causing the mysql  
downtime, but I could be wrong, no other reasons?

aketus



Quoting Dave Fregon <dave at netaxxs.com.au>:

> On Mon, 2006-11-13 at 15:47 +1100, aketus wrote:
>> No IP logging is great, but when it's only the site itself that is
>> suffering due to a nice theory, well I think we know who the loser is.
>> Remember that the spambots don't care if there are IP logs or not - it
>> will bring the site down either way. If our own rules are detrimental
>> to the running of an Indymedia site, then our own laws are too strict
>> and need to be wavered.
>
> The main issue with IP logging is that the authorities can request it,
> indeed sites have been taken down and handed to the authorities so that
> they can gather this info, without even asking (eg: UK servers), if we
> don't store it, there's no reason for them to do so.
>
> Effectively, actions in the past by the state have made it 'a
> requirement' so that we do not have downtime! :) weird eh
>
> By removing the logs, we cannot provide information to the state when
> requested to do so, it's just not possible.
>
> The other scary issue while I think of it, is that under aussie law, if
> any of us are questioned by the State during a 'terrorism
> investigation', we are denied the right to tell anyone we have been.
> Indeed, anyone passing on that information is in breach of the law
> themselves. This effectively means that any of us can be questioned, and
> not allowed to tell anyone that we are under investigation or the like,
> even tho we are doing nothing wrong or vaguely 'terrorist', that doesn't
> matter. You have to answer their questions, there is no 'right to
> silence', and no right to tell anyone.
>
> Dave
>
>>
>> aketus
>>
>> Quoting meela davis <meela.davis at gmail.com>:
>>
>> > Not sure about other imcs, but Sydney definately has a "no ip logging"
>> > policy. So AFAIK, it would be hard to determine who's doing the spamming,
>> > and impossible to block them.
>> >
>> > We recently had a bit of trouble with our drupal spam module going haywire
>> > and marking almost everything as spam. So we turned it off for a while,
>> > reset some of the strings it searches for, and re-enabled it on   
>> the weekend.
>> > Fingers crossed, but so far, so good.
>> >
>> > You're right, aketus. Captcha only reduces amount of work that a person
>> > needs to do to deactivate and remove spam. It doesn't actually stop spam.
>> > There's some info on (where else?) wikipedia about trapping spammers, etc.
>> > Someone else who knows more than I should comment on the methods described
>> > there, though.
>> >
>> > Meela
>> >
>> >
>> > On 11/13/06, aketus <aketus at anarchobase.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Despite the rep for Adelaide IMC installing Captcha to prevent the
>> >> massive spam overloads (which I believe have been contributing, if not
>> >> are the cause, of the mysql crashes), there have still been way too
>> >> many connections to the adelaideimc database, as well as some other
>> >> strange
>> >> 'mysqlmail4php2you4me2006flunkkeldenjuliebrianshirldeanwaynecrai'
>> >> processes - anyone know what these are?
>> >>
>> >> It's been a noted concern of mine that *after* captcha was installed
>> >> on Adelaide IMC, much of mysql's resources have been taken up by the
>> >> site regardless.
>> >>
>> >> Thus I don't think captcha is doing the job - captcha will only stop
>> >> the spam comments actually being processed - but it doesn't stop the
>> >> hundreds of spambots actually visiting the site and hence racking up
>> >> database connections. I think what would be more effective would be
>> >> checking some logs to find the IP(s) or IP range of the spambots
>> >> hitting AdelaideIMC and block their entire access to the site using
>> >> htaccess.
>> >>
>> >> Or is my logic flawed? I confess I don't know that much about captcha
>> >> or mysql and how/when spam affects the server.
>> >>
>> >> aketus
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Quoting Cameron Gregg <cam at earthanarchy.org>:
>> >>
>> >>> Danyl Strype wrote:
>> >>>> Kia ora
>> >>>>
>> >>>> We are getting an error message with Indymedia.org.nz:
>> >>>>
>> >>>> "Database Error
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Could not establish database connection."
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Anyone know why
>> >>>>
>> >>>> RnB
>> >>>> Strypey
>> >>>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> Seems ok for me right now.
>> >>>
>> >>> We've had lots of waves of spam lately. In particular Adelaide IMC is
>> >>> suffering. If anyone can offer them some tech assistance in getting
>> >>> captcha working (or another solution), that would be good.
>> >>>
>> >>> Cam
>> >>> _______________________________________________
>> >>> axxs-sysadmin mailing list
>> >>> axxs-sysadmin at lists.indymedia.org
>> >>> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/axxs-sysadmin
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> aketus
>> >>
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> axxs-sysadmin mailing list
>> >> axxs-sysadmin at lists.indymedia.org
>> >> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/axxs-sysadmin
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Power to the sisters and therefore to the class
>> > http://dev.anarchafem.org
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
aketus