This feels like another case of security through obscurity though. It would seem that having a public review of the algorithms would not only lead to fixing possible holes in the algorithm, but would also continue to lead to the development of more Free Software that can only help Razor. We already know that we'll always have to adapt to new spamming techniques. I don't think that hiding the TeS algorithm will slow that down at all.
Tks,
Jeff Bailey
-----Original Message-----
From: Matt Kettler [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Monday, October 28, 2002 1:21 PM
To: Rob; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: Rob
Subject: Re: [Razor-users] TeS algorithm
The main problem with telling people exactly how the TeS system works, is
that this allows malicious spammers to pollute the razor TeS system.
Telling people what their score is allows them to derive how the system
works, making it effectively the same as telling them how the TeS system
works, they just have to put forth the added effort to actually figure it out.
Assuming Spammer Bob knows exactly how the TeS system works, he knows the
most effective ways to artificially increase his score, and to decrease the
scores of others. I'm not going to detail the exact details of how to abuse
this power, but the astute thinker should be able to figure out the basics.
It is possible to make the system somewhat resistant to such abuses, but
it's nearly impossible to make the system effective at weeding out bad
submitters and trusting of good submitters without making it easily abused.
At 11:26 AM 10/28/2002 -0500, Rob wrote:
>[This is presumably a frequently asked question, but I read the FAQ,
>and spent a couple of hours looking through the archives to no avail,
>so here goes]
>
>How exactly does the TeS algorithm work? I know at a base level, the
>more spam you submit that other people also agree is spam, the higher
>your trust level in the system is, but I want to know more of the
>details.
>
>I've looked through the online docs, and a good chunk of the client
>source, but haven't found any details on it. Is the algorithm
>intentionally obfuscated to prevent misuse? I saw in the FAQ that
>people can't even determine their own TeS levels yet. What are the
>issues involved in telling people their TeS levels?
>
>Thanks!
>
>- Rob
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