In the past day or two, I've noticed several Viagra messages have been "missed" by SpamSeive. This is most unusual, because until this, SpamSeive has been very effective. So I did a bit of homework.
I checked SpamSeive's log, and found this entry for one of the misclassified messages: > Predicted: Good > Subject: LOw Cost Som@, X(a)[EMAIL PROTECTED], Val\303\224(u)m, Viagr@ Di3t Pills > Many M3ds > JBYwDnAlB4CS > Identifier: mLNIumJAjzJiZ9YrVXo2VA== > Reason: Habeas SWE headers present > Date: 2004-01-15 22:37:53 -0700 Okay, so the message was judged "good" based on the Habeas header, whatever that is. I recalled seeing something about Habeas in SpamSeive's preferences, so I looked, and sure enough, "Honor Habeas Headers" was enabled. Well, I've now disabled this, since it's letting some spam through. But I noticed a link in the preferences to the habeas.com site, for more information. Turns out that Habeas, according to their web site, is supposed to "vet messages for legitimacy, guaranteeing that they're not spam". Mail with a Habeas header is supposed to have the following characteristics: > Offer a functional unsubscribe capability on all emails to consumers and > process unsubscribe requests in a timely manner. > > Have a removal policy for repeatedly bouncing email addresses and an average > bounce rate of no more than 5% for mailings to any given mailing list. > > Obtain Verified Permission from the email recipient to receive the emails sent > using the Habeas Service. Well, I most certainly have NOT given them my permission to receive these messages, and I did not notice an unsubscribe link or other instructions in the message. My conclusion? Habeas may be a good idea, but the spammers are abusing it. Has anyone else noticed such issues with the Habeas header? I think it's interesting to note that SpamSeive has tools that allowed me to "debug" its behavior, to determine why it missed some spam, then to fix it. One more time, I think SpamSeive is just great! Hope this helps somebody. Enjoy! -- Jim -- To unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.letterrip.com/> old-archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.boingo.com/>
