Off topic, except that qmail users actually care about spam...
I find the general acceptance of HTML mail to be alarming.
Assume for the moment that I am a spammer (but don't shoot
me). If I want to generate from whole cloth a mailing list
of real, live Internet users, the first thing I might do is
send HTML mail to a randomly generated list of account names
at some of the larger mail hosts. Each one will include at
least one image which has, embedded in its name, the name of
the user account that I sent the mail to. Then, as my web
server starts to log hits, I get the data I want.
Although the US PTO might consider this novel and unobvious,
I doubt it is news to many people on this list, and I suspect
that it is already happening. Am I right? Is there anything
one can do about it, assuming one doesn't administer all
systems one receives mail through?
- Bruce
