Off Topic: anti spam software??

[Jeffrey F. Bloss]

Scott Kitterman wrote:

> > > > I really want something that will challenge everyone not on the
> > > > whitelist.
> > >
> > > Please don't do this.  You obviously know that the addresses in
> > > the spam are forged.  If you send challenges for these kinds of
> > > messages, then you are spamming innocent bystanders.
> > >
> > > Scott K
> >
> > In addition to that you will be confirming your email is live.  Bad
> > idea.
> >
> Um, no.
> 
> Challenge goes back to the forged e-mail address.  The only one that
> knows your 'email is live' is the innocent bystander you just
> inconvenienced.  They may, perhaps, tell spamcop and then your mail
> server ends up on their RBL and your mail server operator is NOT
> happy with you at all.

Not all spam is from forged addresses. I goodly and growing amount
comes from compromised machines or cheap, transient accounts in places
that are let's say... more "tolerant" of spammers. ;)

The typical scenario is millions of randomly generated destinations
with valid TLD's in the To: header and working return addresses, not
just intended as broadcasts but also as "probes" to see if there's any
response at all from any of those random addresses. Bounces are of
course simply dropped on the floor. Any address that doesn't bounce
within a certain period of time is considered "alive", and anything
with an auto-responder on it is *obviously* alive.

Those responsive addresses will invariably attract even more spam
regardless of whether the reply was a C/R attempt or some "out of the
office 'till Monday" silliness. I doubt a distinction is made. The
address is deemed "useful", sold or further abused, and even if you
never see a single piece of junk mail yourself that address has become a
problem for everyone else, including the owners of the addresses
which are forged onto "normal" spam runs. Thus making the evilness of
C/R just that much *more* evil, IOW. ;)

-- 
     _?_      Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
    (o o)         Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
-oOO-(_)--OOo------------------------------[ Groucho Marx ]---
                    http://wrench.homelinux.net/~jeff/
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 892 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/attachments/20070224/1a071eeb/attachment.sig>