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Re: Almost off topic
On Mon, 2 Feb 1998, Oron Peled wrote:
> On 02-Feb-98 Asher Frenkel wrote:
> > I strongly recommend anyone that is running a mail server to add rules to
> > support Paul Vixie's RBL project (Realtime Blackhole List).
> > from http://maps.vix.com/rbl:
> > "Welcome to the home page of the MAPS (the Mail Abuse Protection System)
> > RBL (our Realtime Blackhole List). The MAPS RBL is a system for creating
> > intentional network outages for the purpose of limiting the transport of
> > known-to-be-unwanted mass e-mail. The MAPS RBL is a subscription system,
> > such that no one is ever denied connectivity to a non-RBL-subscriber."
>
> This is definitely the way to go. Mr. Vixie (BIND maintainer among other things)
> has set up a special domain for reverse lookups (by address).
>
> It IS a good idea to block complete domains, as the spam patterns are
> usually from big domains housing companies selling services of the
> "we will distribute your ads to thousands of sites and mailing list".
I aggree. I do not run a mail server, but I have been subscribed to a load
of lists, many of them active (30-40 messages a day), and I have to say,
that they have NO spam in them. I am talking about lists in Germany and
the USA (MIT), that are prime targets for equipment and sofware marketing,
besides the other things. Is it discipline or procmail ? ;)
> It is NOT a good idea to bounce the message, as the source address
> is usually faked (pointing to another victim).
I do not aggree. The source address points to a dummy user usually, not to
another list memeber. This gives the danger of having a loop built. Thus
the mail must be stamped before bouncing, and checked for stamps before
stamping and bouncing.
If the sender is a human, he must be reminded that he has forgotten to add
the pass cookie to his mail, so it passes. Things aren't as bad, as to
require rolling passwords yet, though.
> Police will be useless in the near future until international laws will
> be set although its a good idea to raise the subject of law, to block
> at least the Israeli part of the spam (small, but still, that Aluminum
> factory announcement, few weeks ago, to the list, really annoyed me).
Am I losing mail again, or was that another list ? ;)
> The key is to make this advertisement channel uneconomic by making the
> companies USING it (the spammer costumers) look bad in public.
If someone makes 20% profit (or more) by selling bulk email addresses,
then he cares about as much about the public opinion as the wino on the
corner. If someone keeps getting complaints from all the hosts he is
connected to because of email bounces and overload, *then* he will do
something about it. Let's not talk about companies that look bad here
(again) ;)
Peter