RE: HTML email "bug", of sorts.

["Russell Garrett" <rg () tcslon com>]

> <img
> src="http://www.megahardcoresex.com/sites/XXXXXXXX0 (continued)
> 3b/sf03b08152001.gif?M=XXXXXXXXX&ID=wakko () bitey net" 
> width="1" height="1"> 

Ok, this has me scared now....

> So, anyone have any idea of how to deal with this latest 
> little spammer
> toy?  Is there any effective way to filter out web bugs 
> without adversely
> affecting the delivery intact of legitimate messages?  
> Could software
> change to at least warn viewers that this HTML viewer is 
> accessing offsite
> content?  Is it worth doing?

Well, the problem that many people will have with these sorts
of e-mails is known in the trade as Microsoft Outlook. What
really scares me is that *simply clicking* on such an e-mail
in Outlook, loading it up in the AutoPreview page, which many
people regard as "safe" (scripts aren't allowed to run in it),
will cause the bug to be loaded and your address to be verified.

The most scary bit is that I don't think there is any way to 
disable remotely-loaded images in Outlook. True, you can choose 
which Internet Explorer Security Zone recieved messages fit into,
but I don't think that even the "Restricted Sites" zone disables
off-site image loading (I'll have to check on that one, the help
isn't very clear).

So, where does that leave a user? In Outlook, you can't tell if 
an e-mail is HTML without viewing it in the preview pane, in 
which case you've already confirmed your existence to spammers. 
You can't report the spam using such services as SpamCop unless 
you actually open the e-mail to get the source. Now you're 
gambling. Staring at this spam, betting as to whether it's html 
or text. But to *delete* the thing immediately, you need to 
select it, and in selecting it, you are loading it into the 
preview pane.

I've turned off my preview pane to start with. And I think a 
script which warns you of (or preferably deletes) HTML e-mails
before they are loaded needs developing. 


Cheers,


Russ Garrett (rg () tcslon com)