At 05:20 PM 9/2/00 -0500, Kevin Hodge wrote:
>E-Mail CAN be tracked for example here is the full header from your message:
>
>Received: from lists.sni.net - 199.117.27.5 by email.msn.com with Microsoft
>SMTPSVC;
...
When I said "there is no such thing as an email tracker," I said so in the context of
a bogus chain letter claiming that they would know who an email got forwarded to, not
where it came from. If I forward your email to someone else, you have no way to know
who I forwarded it to, because you don't get a copy (unless, of course, you have
inserted spy taps at their ISP or they, in turn, forward the message back to you).
>Notice that every e-mail has a message id. Email headers can be spoffed to
>make it seem like the message came from someone that it didn't.
...
This is true. Email headers may or may not indicate a true point of origin. They may
or may not indicate a true routing path. Usually, they do, but spammers tend to lie a
lot in their headers to avoid the prosecution and persecution they deserve. I even had
one rather brazen spammer attempt to spam all of RangerNet by forging headers
indicating their message was from the list owner (me). Fortunately, it bounced,
because I use a different email address for posting and for "list owner" traffic, and
RangerNet posting is limited to list members only. That single limitation on posting
to RangerNet by members only has saved all of you a large volume of spam, even though
it is a bit inconvenient to people who want to post from more than one address. I
know, because majordomo bounces all nonmember posts to me. After careful examination
of the posting headers, I didn't have enough information to determine where the
criminal impersonator who tried to spam in my name originated his or he!
r dirty deed. At other times, however, I have succeeded in determining the exact
computer that a message came from by examining the headers.
As a point of mailing list trivia, when majordomo bounces a trapped posting to me for
approval (because it was submitted from an address that isn't subscribed, or because
it contained certain forbidden key words that Royal Rangers are not likely to ever
use), and I decide to approve it, I essentially forge a message from the original
sender that happens to contain the exact same contents that the original sender
intended to post to the list. It is actually pretty easy to do, unless you eat too
much vegemite and don't drink enough root beer. (Subscribers to rrgold may know what
I'm talking about, but most of them don't read the full RangerNet list. :-)) I try to
avoid manual approval, however, because doing that for very many messages per day can
be time consuming, and I must be a wise steward of the time God has graciously given
me.
If someone really wants to send an anonymous email message, and knows enough about how
email and remailers work, that person can do it. Just normal email, however, without
doing anything special to hide, is not really very anonymous.
___
Michael Paul Johnson aka Soaring Golden Eagle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://eBible.org/mpj Rocky Mountain Outpost 207 New Creation Church
Jesus Christ is Lord! If Jesus came back today, would you be READY?
_______
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"Eat the hay & spit out the sticks! - A#1's mule" RTKB&G4JC!
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