On 3/14/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Charles, > My problem is that a significant fraction of the spam I get are > challenges to some forged email purporting to be from a domain I > control. To the point where *all* challenges are immediately bit > bucketed. > > It's not that my email to you is "not that important" it's that I > cannot easily tell your challenge from spam. This problem is neatly solved by TMDA. Here's how it works:
I know how TMDA works.
When you send an email to me, TMDA tags it with a random-looking string. The challenge will contain this string, so *your* filter can let easily correlate the tag in the challenge with the string it sent in the original email. Thus, it is trivial for your email agent to distinguish between a fake challenge and a real one in a fully automated way. Read the TMDA docs for more information.
I am not running my own outgoing MTA, nor is the MTA I use under my control. I believe this is the case for >99% of the internet. Your "solution" while perhaps technically elegant is not useful in practice.
> Challenge response is an automatic noise amplifier in an already noisy > environment. You are contributing to everyone else's problem in > trying to solve yours. Again, I believe this is incorrect (see above). Speaking of amplification, you seem to have transformed a concern into an accusation rather quickly. If your human protocol does not include politeness, there's very little point in discussing much else.
Accusation? If you say so. I think of it as reporting an observed fact. Using the scientific method I have formed a hypothesis based on my observations. I'm sorry if you find my hypothesis personally offensive, that is not my intent. However the observed fact remains. Most of the spam that actually makes it into my inbox is a result of challenges to forged email. Challenges cause work, not for the sender, but for an uninvolved third party. Challenge systems send unsolicited (the recipient didn't ask for it) bulk (by responding in an automated way to incoming bulk) email. Therefore challenge/response systems generate spam. -- Charles
