[CS-FSLUG] How to keep from getting spammed?

[Norbert Bollow]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my message; I appreciate the warm
welcome which I received.  :-)


Jerry Van Brimmer <jerryvb at verizon.net> wrote:

> http://www.spamdontbuyit.org/
> Unfortunately, it's kind of hard to get the word out to the whole "'net" 
> population. I think the site has "a" valid point.

Yes.  Making a "commitment to never buy in response to spam" is a
step in the right direction, even when that alone isn't going to
solve the problem.


Fred Miller <fmiller at lightlink.com> wrote:

> We can do that. The "real" answer is in the SMTP specs, which are being 
> rewritten.

Huh?  As far as I know the SMTP specs are not being rewritten.

I believe that what you probably mean is MARID, the IETF working group
tasked with developing the email authentication standard called
"Sender-ID".  Actually that isn't going anywhere, and the IETF is
planning to close that working group down because it failed to
reach consensus.

That is in fact good because that "Sender-ID" thing was deeply flawed
for technical as well as legal reasons.  We don't need "Sender-ID",
and if Microsoft Corporation was inclined to listen to me, I'd tell
them "thank you very much, but the internet will be better off when
you don't try to push your ideas on us."

There is already SPF, which I consider the emerging de-facto standard
for solving the problem that "Sender-ID" tried to address.  For
details about SPF, please refer to http://spf.pobox.com/

("Sender-ID" is Microsoft's patent-pending attempt to "improve" SPF.
I for one am glad that SPF doesn't have the flaws of "Sender-ID".)

When widely adopted, SPF can solve the problem that it is so easy for
spammers to forge email.  That is definiately an important step in the
right direction.


However, even with SPF and with a "commitment to never buy in response
to spam", the problem of spam is still far from solved.

I still think that we should pray for a week and _then_ talk about how
to go about actually solving the problem.

Blessings,
Norbert.