nanog mailing list archives

Re: Is there a technical solution to SPAM?


From: Paul Vixie <vixie () vix com>
Date: 31 Jul 2003 01:23:14 +0000


Spammers are like roaches.  They are here to stay.  They are aggressive.
They adapt.

spam is a drug, and spammers will do anything, anything at all, for a fix.

We need to respond with a variety of mechanisms, preferably coordinated
to maximize the aggregate effect.

i still disagree.  we need to call smtp a total loss and start over, from
the basic question: how can mutual consent be prerequisite to communication?

the difference between spam and ddos is a matter of statefulness -- but the
motives for sending it are essentially the same: asymmetric benefit to the
sender, and without consent of the recipients.

watching the growth of the anti-ddos and anti-spam industries makes the
internet look like a grade school science fair project run amok.
-- 
Paul Vixie


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