[PLUG] House Passed the Anti-Spam Bill

[Carla Schroder]

On Sunday 23 November 2003 6:50 am, Holger Stephan wrote:
> > ~    * You're going to get tons of spam, and from major companies.
> > This ~      becomes legal, even in states where it used to be
> > illegal. ~    * The headers will be correct. There are penalties
> > for forging ~      headers.
> >...
>
> When the headers are correct what keeps the receiving MTA from
> rejecting spam? Seems to me as soon as advertisers identify
> themselves at delivery the technology to reject them at the door step
> will be made available to the public pretty fast. Currently it is
> limited to those who have the expertise and time to set up something
> like MIMEDefang.

That still drops the problem into the recipient's hands. We're still 
subsidizing the spammer. All that bandwidth they're sucking up is paid 
for by someone else.  All the steps we take to block spam eats up hours 
we'll never get paid for. What our good chums in Congress are doing is 
legalizing a form of DDoS. But what do they care, us luser citizens 
don't pad their bank accounts.

As for identifiable headers, you know they'll play whack-a-mole games 
with changing names and servers. Most retailers that get into the spam 
gang will outsource to the big spamhauses, who are experts at this sort 
of fiddle. It should be easier to filter, but it will still be a big 
fat PITA.

The cure for spam is to cut it off at the source. No matter how they 
dress it up, it's a form of trespass,that shifts the cost to the 
recipients. Building better filters, or making it easier to filter, is 
like using a bigger umbrella in a shitstorm.

-- 
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Carla Schroder
www.tuxcomputing.com
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