Now that I've got your attention with an over-the-top provocative subject line :-), Please forgive me for singling you (Larry) out as the expert on the subject of [EMAIL PROTECTED], but you've been very helpful on the topic more than once in the past and I suspect you're our best hope of finding answers to a troubling problem:
I've been noticing that all e-mail coming to me from the local Dean campaign is flagged as [EMAIL PROTECTED] by EFN's servers. Had I not specifically requested and arranged for my [EMAIL PROTECTED] to be delivered instead of silently deleted, the EFN system would have deleted this e-mail without informing me and I would not be aware of the event announced in this e-mail. Most people don't make the arrangements that I have to see their spam and decide for themselves. I wonder how many EFN users opted into this list and will never hear about the upcoming event because of EFN's [EMAIL PROTECTED] filters? I wonder how that may effect attendance at the event? funds raised? election outcome? (Yeah, I know, but hey, it was *real* close last time!)
The overwhelming criterion for identifying this e-mail as [EMAIL PROTECTED] is the "Bayesian [EMAIL PROTECTED] probability". I'm familiar with the term "Bayesian networks" and understand that somebody has probably implemented a spam recognition heuristic based on such technology.
My questions are:
1. Is EFN currently using [EMAIL PROTECTED] as the server name "oswald" suggests? If so, what version? If not, what [EMAIL PROTECTED] filter is being used?
2. The "Bayesian probability" suggests to me that there is a repository of reported [EMAIL PROTECTED] somewhere that incoming e-mail is compared against to see if it resembles any previously reported spiced-ham incidents. This leads me to further questions:
a. Is the repository local to EFN or "out there on the 'net". If the latter, where (what URL(s)) is the repository?
b. Who decides what reference e-mails go into the repositor(ies)? What criteria do they use? Can we check to see who may have reported *solicited* (not unsolicited) Dean campaign e-mail?
I think there is a huge incentive for political zealots to abuse spam filters for political goals if they can be so abused. I want to make sure that there are mechanisms in place to prevent such censoring, both at EFN and elsewhere. I welcome knowledge and insights from anyone familiar with popular spam filtering tech.
Thank you for listening, This issue is likely to become my favorite rant for the coming year :-),
Marc
-------- Original Message --------
From: - Mon Nov 10 13:48:49 2003
X-UIDL: 1058303202.5853
X-Mozilla-Status: 0001
X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000
Received: from localhost [127.0.0.1] by oswald.efn.org with SpamAssassin (2.60 1.212-2003-09-23-exp); Mon, 10 Nov 2003 15:26:22 -0800
From: "Ron Burley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: *****SPAM***** [Dean2004] Howard Dean's Birthday Party
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2003 15:24:33 -0800
Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
X-Spam-Flag: YES
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.60 (1.212-2003-09-23-exp) on oswald.efn.org
X-Spam-Server: oswald.efn.org
X-Spam-Status: Yes, hits=6.2 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_99,HTML_FONTCOLOR_BLUE, HTML_FONTCOLOR_UNSAFE,HTML_FONT_BIG,HTML_MESSAGE,HTML_TAG_BALANCE_A, UPPERCASE_25_50 autolearn=no version=2.60
X-Spam-Level: ******
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="----------=_3FB01E9E.C99E58B1"
Spam detection software, running on the system "oswald.efn.org", has identified this incoming email as possible spam. The original message has been attached to this so you can view it (if it isn't spam) or block similar future email. If you have any questions, see [EMAIL PROTECTED] for details.
Content preview: ------=_NextPart_000_00A4_01C3A79E.C4066290
------=_NextPart_001_00A5_01C3A79E.C4066290 Happy Birthday Howard! You
are invited to join Teresa Damron & Lane County for Dean as we
celebrate Governor Howard Dean's birthday. The event will be this
Saturday, November 15th, beginning at 5pm. There will be a delicious
lite buffet, great conversation, Dean videos, free beer & wine, a
conference call with the birthday boy and, of course... a birthday
cake! Host: Teresa Damron Address: 605 Howard Street (off River Road),
Eugene, Oregon Time: 5 - 8pm Space is limited, so RSVP promptly to
Ellen Hyman at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or
call LCFD at 541-242-0639. We promise a great time for all and hope
that you will be able to join us to wish Howard Dean a Happy Birthday.
------=_NextPart_001_00A5_01C3A79E.C4066290 [...]
Content analysis details: (6.2 points, 5.0 required)
pts rule name description
---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------
5.4 BAYES_99 BODY: Bayesian spam probability is 99 to 100%
[score: 1.0000]
0.1 HTML_FONTCOLOR_BLUE BODY: HTML font color is blue
0.1 HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included in message
0.3 HTML_FONT_BIG BODY: HTML has a big font
0.1 HTML_FONTCOLOR_UNSAFE BODY: HTML font color not in safe 6x6x6 palette
0.2 HTML_TAG_BALANCE_A BODY: HTML has excess "a" close tags
0.0 UPPERCASE_25_50 message body is 25-50% uppercaseThe original message was not completely plain text, and may be unsafe to open with some email clients; in particular, it may contain a virus, or confirm that your address can receive spam. If you wish to view it, it may be safer to save it to a file and open it with an editor
--- Begin Message ---3D""Happy Birthday Howard! You are invited to join Teresa Damron & Lane = County for Dean as we celebrate Governor Howard Dean's birthday. The = event will be this Saturday, November 15th, beginning at 5pm. There will = be a delicious lite buffet, great conversation, Dean videos, free beer = & wine, a conference call with the birthday boy and, of course... a birthday cake! Host: Teresa Damron Address: 605 Howard Street (off River = Road), Eugene, Oregon Time: 5 - 8pm Space is limited, so RSVP promptly to Ellen Hyman at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or call LCFD at 541-242-0639. We promise a great time for all and hope that you will be = able to join us to wish Howard Dean a Happy Birthday. References 1. 3D"mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]"<<LCFD_email_banner.jpg>>
_______________________________________________ Dean2004 mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://dean2004.lane.or.us/mailman/listinfo/dean2004
--- End Message ---
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