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In the cases when a spammer uses what is called a "doorway domain" to set up a spam site, the tool can identify the domain
that is being exploited and notify its administrators, he said. A doorway domain is a legitimate URL, such as www.blogger.com,
that spammers use to set up a spam site so it looks like a valid Web site, and thus will fool users and search engines.
"If they put [what looks like a] blog URL into your forum and everyone else’s, they will fool the search engine," Wang said.
In addition to specifications for the tool, Microsoft Research also published information in its report to encourage owners
of free Web-hosting sites, search engines and publicly accessible Web forums to do what they can to prevent Web spammers from
exploiting search engines.
Wang said free Web-hosting sites such as MySpace and Google BlogSpot can use Microsoft's methodology to identify spammers
that might be using their sites as doorway domains. He said he hopes that search-engine companies will use the specifications
for the tool described in the report to optimize their search engines to ferret out spam URLs.
Additionally, users who have blogs or forums on Web-hosting sites can help alleviate the problem of Web spamming by shutting
down sites that are still active online but that they no longer visit or use, Wang said.
The Microsoft Research report on Strider Search Defender can be found here.
The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.
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