Steve Linford
Encyclopedia
Steve Linford is a British anti-spam
campaigner best known for founding The Spamhaus Project
.
. After leaving college to pursue a music career, Linford made his living writing music and playing with Italian, German and English rock bands. For a number of years he was under contract to Italy's 'GM' record label and worked on film music with composer Ennio Morricone
In the early 1980s he became involved in concert production. When artists including Pink Floyd
and Michael Jackson
toured Italy, Linford served as their Production Director.
As computers began to be used in the music industry, Linford was drawn to computing. In 1986 he moved to England where he set up a software company called Ultradesign Technology, whose flagship product for many years was a file-searching program called UltraFind for the Macintosh similar to, but predating by many years, Apple's Sherlock
. With the rise of the internet Linford refocused the company in 1996 as an internet technologies company called Ultradesign Internet, around which he built a server hosting network called UXN.
Finding that his customers were being harassed with junk emails, he sought ways to stop the problem and in doing so he became an anti-spam campaigner. In 1998 he founded Spamhaus.
With the support of the internet's major networks, Spamhaus began blocking billions of spam emails from reaching internet users and this activity made Linford a target for cyber-criminals whose spam operations were increasingly crippled by Spamhaus. He received many death threats from criminal spam gangs around the world, many of which were posted online.
Today his project's DNSBL
s are used by an estimated two-thirds of the world's Internet networks and collectively serve over 1.4 billion email users.
In 2005 Linford left England to return to the Mediterranean and today lives in Monaco
. He is currently CEO of the Spamhaus organization which, now based nearby in Geneva
, Switzerland, continues to be the driving force behind spam filter technology and anti-spam legislation and helps keep email usable for the rest of us.
. In 2005 he was nominated for Outstanding Contribution to the UK Technology Industry.
Spam (electronic)
Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
campaigner best known for founding The Spamhaus Project
The Spamhaus Project
The Spamhaus Project is an international organisation to track e-mail spammers and spam-related activity. It is named for the anti-spam jargon term coined by Linford, spamhaus, a pseudo-German expression for an ISP or other firm which spams or willingly provides service to spammers.-Spamhaus...
.
Biography
Linford was born in London, England in 1956. His family moved to Rome, Italy where Steve attended Rome's St. George's British International SchoolSt. George's British International School
The St George’s British International School in Rome, Italy was founded in 1958 and is an independent and non-profit-making HMC school which is owned by an Association made up of parents of the school. The school has two junior-school locations, one in the Nomentana area in downtown Rome , and...
. After leaving college to pursue a music career, Linford made his living writing music and playing with Italian, German and English rock bands. For a number of years he was under contract to Italy's 'GM' record label and worked on film music with composer Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...
In the early 1980s he became involved in concert production. When artists including Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
and Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
toured Italy, Linford served as their Production Director.
As computers began to be used in the music industry, Linford was drawn to computing. In 1986 he moved to England where he set up a software company called Ultradesign Technology, whose flagship product for many years was a file-searching program called UltraFind for the Macintosh similar to, but predating by many years, Apple's Sherlock
Sherlock (software)
Sherlock, named after Sherlock Holmes, was a file and web search tool created by Apple Inc. for the Mac OS, introduced with Mac OS 8.5 as an extension of the Mac OS Finder's file searching capabilities. Like its predecessor, it can search for local files and file contents, which it does using the...
. With the rise of the internet Linford refocused the company in 1996 as an internet technologies company called Ultradesign Internet, around which he built a server hosting network called UXN.
Finding that his customers were being harassed with junk emails, he sought ways to stop the problem and in doing so he became an anti-spam campaigner. In 1998 he founded Spamhaus.
With the support of the internet's major networks, Spamhaus began blocking billions of spam emails from reaching internet users and this activity made Linford a target for cyber-criminals whose spam operations were increasingly crippled by Spamhaus. He received many death threats from criminal spam gangs around the world, many of which were posted online.
Today his project's DNSBL
DNSBL
A DNSBL is a list of IP addresses published through the Internet Domain Name Service either as a zone file that can be used by DNS server software, or as a live DNS zone that can be queried in real-time...
s are used by an estimated two-thirds of the world's Internet networks and collectively serve over 1.4 billion email users.
In 2005 Linford left England to return to the Mediterranean and today lives in Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
. He is currently CEO of the Spamhaus organization which, now based nearby in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Switzerland, continues to be the driving force behind spam filter technology and anti-spam legislation and helps keep email usable for the rest of us.
Awards
In 2003 the New York Times dedicated the front page of its Business section to an article about Steve Linford. Since then he has regularly spoken on spam and security at government hearings, the European Parliament and the UN. In 2003 he was named as one of the technical industry's 'Top 50 Agenda Setters' by Silicon Magazine. In 2004 he was given the Internet Hero Award by the British ISP Association ISPAInternet Service Providers Association
The Internet Service Providers Association, or ISPA, is a British body representing providers of Internet Services.-History:ISPA was established in 1995 as the first trade association for ISPs, promoting competition, self-regulation and progress within the Internet industry...
. In 2005 he was nominated for Outstanding Contribution to the UK Technology Industry.