Full Disclosure mailing list archives
RE: A Report on SPAM Blackholes, Blocking/Filte ring, and AOL
From: John.Airey () rnib org uk
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 09:54:34 -0000
Jason, you are spot on. Provided you test that you aren't a relay yourself, there's little you can do to prevent SPAM. Blackholes may refuse legitimate email from sites that aren't set up correctly. If that site then can't email anyone at all, they are unable to communicate with the company that blackholed them. Perhaps it would be better to bombard their postmaster account with warnings about open relay to give them a chance to communicate and fix it first? Some sites may not have reverse DNS entries for their SMTP server. Do you refuse email from them? I've had this suggested to me before, but that would prevent legitimate email coming just because someone messed up a reverse DNS record. I've done it before myself and our own system rejected the outbound email. Filtering doesn't work, because the spammers use different techniques. Anyone seen the latest trick, to use a Mailer-Daemon message of returned email? It looks like a bounced message when it isn't. The House of Commons has a filtering system which rejects emails with the word sex in them (a little indiscriminate). However, they are debating a Sexual Offences Bill soon, so constituents emails were being dropped about the subject (Democracy in action? Considering that the bill would legalise homosexual acts in public toilets but criminalise heterosexual acts almost anywhere outside a cynic would not be surprised.) It would be nice to think that our governments can stop SPAM through legislation, but they really aren't interested. Which in the light of the preceding is a little surprising. - John Airey, BSc (Jt Hons), CNA, RHCE Internet systems support officer, ITCSD, Royal National Institute of the Blind, Bakewell Road, Peterborough PE2 6XU, Tel.: +44 (0) 1733 375299 Fax: +44 (0) 1733 370848 John.Airey () rnib org uk A fundamentalist - what you call someone more sure of what they believe than what you are - NOTICE: The information contained in this email and any attachments is confidential and may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that you must not use, disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on this email's content. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately and then delete the email and any attachments from your system. RNIB has made strenuous efforts to ensure that emails and any attachments generated by its staff are free from viruses. However, it cannot accept any responsibility for any viruses which are transmitted. We therefore recommend you scan all attachments. Please note that the statements and views expressed in this email and any attachments are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RNIB. RNIB Registered Charity Number: 226227 Website: http://www.rnib.org.uk _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html
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- RE: A Report on SPAM Blackholes, Blocking/Filte ring, and AOL John . Airey (Feb 14)