spam, anti-spam, SSL/PGP/etc, etc.

[Ben Scott]

On 8/23/06, Bruce Dawson <jbd at codemeta.com> wrote:
> I should point out that SSL/PGP/S/MIME won't stop the spammers.

  The original thread wasn't about spam, so I've changed the subject.

> They will just start sending authenticated spam!

  A'yup.

  One thing authentication *might* do is make sender value weighting
feasible.  Right now, it's so easy to forge headers that headers are
worthless.  But if we can definitively say that a given message came
from, say, Yahoo, and we trust Yahoo to not emit much spam, we can add
a larger "not likely to be spam" value to that message.

  It isn't a Final Ultimate Solution, but might help some.  I'll take
what I can get.

  The biggest problem with the authenticated sender solution is that
players keep trying to turn it into a revenue stream, which is
limiting adoption.  Those greedy bastards are making fighting the
other greedy bastards harder!  :-(

> Plus they'll all move off-shore ...

  I thought they already had.

> ... or the lawyer fees will become prohibitively expensive to go after
> them.

  I thought they already were, even when the spammer is in the US.

> And I can easily see some small country making spamming legal
> ...

  They would have to make it illegal before making it legal would
matter.  There are places that don't even have laws about this yet, or
so I'm told.

> Spam via email is a social problem that can only be fixed by ...

  There is no Final Ultimate Solution To The Spam Problem.  Solving
even some of the problem for some people can have significant value,
though.

-- Ben