[oclug] I am angry. Spam went to far today. Want to fight back.

[Tony van Muyden]

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Hi Stephen,

What you are saying here is only partially right.
It is possible to rewrite the Email protocols, to include Secure Email
Communication.  I would be a fervent supporter of this, and by the looks
of it the rest of the world as well.
Standards get changed all the time, and so can internet email, because
it is in the benefit of everyone.

There should be a system in place that is allowing you to accept an
Originating email address / IP Address as valid, then providing your
secure certificate to the Originating Address, after which you have
allowed email to come through from that Originator only.
By tying the certificate to the Email Originating IP address, a lot of
problems will get solved.
That means if the Spammer does not have your permission and certificate
Good Bye !  This will kill any spam very effectively.
This allows you to control who is emailing you !!

Maybe not so far fetched, and at least it is an interesting discussion.

Tony van Muyden.

Stephen M. Webb wrote:
> On 12/09/07 11:47, William Case wrote:
>> On one hand I, like most others, want to keep the Internet free of
>> governmental interference, laws and rules.  On the other hand, I want to
>> stop this stuff.  Surely if enough individuals have programs that can
>> reverse spam etc. on their desktops, users with a button push can cause
>> enough trouble for the spammers or their IPs that spamming or supporting
>> spamming can become a losing proposition.
> 
> (1) flinging back poo would double the amount of internet traffic due to spam.  
> Spam already accounts for the majority of internet traffic.  You will likely 
> end up blacklisted as a spammer yourself.
> 
> (2) where are you going to fling the poo?  Perhaps to the "From:" address 
> field?  I will cretainly be first in line to hunt you down and flay you alive 
> and feed your entrails through a paper shredder if you contribute to the 
> already sizeable backscatter problem I experience.
> 
> (3) do you really want to confirm to the sender that they've reached a valid 
> address?
> 
> The big problem is that the current email protocols were not designed with 
> malicious users in mind.  It's not really possible to change them now.  Your 
> best bet is to grit your teeth and quietly delete spam without any reply.
> 
> --smw
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