Re: Spam fights

[Dale Amon <amon@vnl.com>]

On Fri, Jun 11, 2004 at 08:39:12PM +1000, Russell Coker wrote:
> It won't work because challenge-response systems are technically no good.  
> While CR systems are almost never used because the people who use them are 
> universally regarded as cretins, the spammers won't bother about trying to 
> fool them.

First of all, keep in mind that I am strictly talking about 
people for whom email is an office tool equivalent to the 
paper mail coming into their physical inbox. They don't
know how the US/B/other/PO gets it there and don't care.

That said, those who can afford it will hire human 
operators to act as email gatekeepers; those who can't
will use whatever a salesman can convince them is
affordable and works. Whether we like it or not will
not figure into the decision.

I already whitelist; unless I have manually pre-cleared
you, I won't see your mail for some time. Basically until
I have time to wade thorugh the sludge, assuming I'm not
back from a trip and just look for one or two expected mails
before deleting. I imagine I'm not alone. CR may not
be the solution, but more and more people are only
taking pre-authorized (whitelist) mail.

If your business requires recieving unsolicted email,
then your business model will include the wages of 
a presorter. They are cheaper than a knowledgeable
mail admin.

As to the "type in this random code from a jpeg",
I use that on samizdata (a major blog for which I'm
one of the editors). It stopped the problem of blog-spam
cold; the human entry is stopped cold by having 
a team of writers who delete on sight.

At the end of the day, dealing with spam is an
employment opportunity, not something that will be
solved technically. Human problems require human 
solutions.

-- 
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   Dale Amon     amon@islandone.org    +44-7802-188325
       International linux systems consultancy
     Hardware & software system design, security
    and networking, systems programming and Admin
	      "Have Laptop, Will Travel"
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