Re: Spam

[The Sheriff <sheriff@speakeasy.org>]

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>Losing third-party relay is rather a shame - the Internet used to
>be a cooperative system where everybody tried to get mail through,
>and avoiding third-party relay is more complex if your users
>have lots of different domain names (e.g. www.foo.com hosted at
>bigisp.net).  It also pushes the net more in the direction of
>all mail needing to have True Names, which is a Bad Thing,
>and decreases robustness of the overall system.

[snip]

>Another approach to reducing spam is of course to keep contacting
>ISPs to kill off bad users, and to get ISPs to refuse spamhauses
>as customers.

I do see the validity of your argument, and I do agree
about forcing everybody to have a "True Name" to not
necessarily be a good thing.  Then again, a few years
ago the marketing industry (if it may be called that)
had no idea the "wealth" they could produce by using the
Internet for relatively cheap advertising.

I love Eudora for a very simple reason: the simplicity
of the filters offered in even the free version.  While
the simplicity also bars complex filters that take care
of a bunch of e-mail in one pop, it does allow for layering.
I have various levels in my filtering system: content-
based, like filtering for PGP messages, stupid crap
from Vulis or threads I don't feel like following.  Next
comes the To: filters -- I've got a number of different
e-mail boxes, each with its own purpose.  If I get mail
auto-forwarded from any of my secondary accounts, it falls
through these filters and is dropped into the correct
folders.  After that come the sender-based filters.  If
there is mail for me from an anonymous source that is not
addressed to me, and doesn't contain content that interests
me, it's dropped into the trash.  Then all the mail from
persistant spam domains that I allready know about gets
thrown in the trash.   If any mail comes FROM a mailing
list, instead of being sent TO a mailing list, it's the
next to go.  After all that, I filter the To: line for all
my mailing lists, and each bit of mail is sent into the
correct folder as above.

After all that rot, if the mail in question doesn't contain
my address in the To: or Cc: lines (except recipient list
repressed mail, which is sometimes interesting), it too is
dropped into my *SPAM folder and the subject is changed
accordingly, which then wraps up 99% of all the spam that I
receive, and I forward the headers to the appropriate ISPs.

There is a "simple" solution to this, and it isn't government
legislation.  If spammers want to be smart about it and
AVOID legislation by power-hungry politicians, all they
have to do is subscribe to spam ISPs that are set up for the
express purpose of spamming.  It doesn't matter how many of
them are out there, really, or what mailing lists are abused:
those who are receptive to spam will respond, and those of
us who hate spam can set up blacklists that detail all the
spam ISPs that we encounter, and circulate those lists.  It
then becomes insanely easy to receive no more than ONE message
from each spam ISP (they could create a new domain tag, .spm),
and everybody's happy.

If the spammers would be smart enough to put the effort into
creating such a network, much as we have, for discussing
issues that matter to us, then they would be in a lot less
trouble, and fewer people would be calling for their heads.

Or am I wrong? :)

Best wishes and fresh-roasted peanut taste,
The Sheriff. -- ***<REPLY TO: sheriff@speakeasy.org>***
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As kinky as it sounds, finger me to see my PGP key and
confirm the signature attached to this message.  Either
that, or head for pgp.ai.mit.edu on the WWW and search
for my e-mail address.
- ---
Any and all SPAM will be met with immediate prosecutory
efforts.  Solicitations are NOT welcome here!
- ---
        ----BEGIN INFLAMATORY BLOCK----
Version: 160 (IQ)
Comments: Definitely one of their greatest misses.

Reporter: "Do you know what Public Enemy is?"
- ---
Citizen: "Public enemy?"
          [long pause]
         "Probably somebody in office."
        -----END INFLAMATORY BLOCK-----


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