Peter van Dijk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Further, so that such mails aren't dropped by "BCC filters", a header
> > must always be introduced which includes the recipient address. I
> > suggest "Resent-to".
>
> Ok. So the spammer will put a Resent-To header in his mails. Not too hard
> to do, I've already gotten some spams which had my address in the To: field.
>
> BCC filters don't cut it anymore.
Er, that was my whole point from the beginning. Any pattern-matching
on email headers and bodies is doomed, in the end, to fail.
However, BCC filters _at_the_recipient_end_ don't cut it anymore. If
no host ever allowed multiple envelope recipients, then today's spam
software would instantly be broken. Tomorrow's spam software would
send one email per recipient, and Whacko! Spam is moving again.
Again, any pattern-matching on email headers and bodies is doomed, in
the end, to failure.
That leaves (with SMTP as we know it):
1. Per-host blocking a la tcpserver and badmailfrom.
2. Per-user blacklists.
3. Non-technical solutions, like lawsuits.
Measure 1 may work, but boils down to a race against spammers. This is
likely to converge to a steady state in which spammers change
providers/accounts at a predictable rate, and the volume of spam in
the SMTP ether will be essentially constant.
Measure 2 simply doesn't work, because SMTP is not an authenticating
protocol. Blacklisting every envelope sender of spam will result in
lots of innocent users getting blacklisted. They will sue.
Measure 3 _must_ work, in this sense: spammers desire someone to give
them money for something. Thus, contact information of some sort must
be provided.
For the record, I don't mind much the anti-spam measures being taken
today, particularly when they are fairly simple to implement. On the
other hand, observing the fundamental futility of such measures is
useful, if it moves us to spend our main energies seeking _real_
solutions.
Len.
--
When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the
wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. --Proverbs 29:2
