more on SPF will solves spam"

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Subject: Re: [IP] " SPF will solves spam"
Subject: Re: [IP] " SPF will solves spam"
To: dave () farber net

Dave,


DF> From: Meng Weng Wong <mengwong () dumbo pobox com>
DF> Subject: SPF will solves spam
...
DF> The Catch-22 is this: SPF, and proposals like it, will only work if
DF> lots of people adopt it; but people will only adopt it if lots of
DF> other people adopt it first.
...
DF> The major objection to SPF is that people are used to the way SMTP
DF> works.


As people read postings about spam, there are some core concerns to keep
in mind:

Spam is first, and foremost, a social problem. Remarkably, we have not
yet gotten clear community consensus on the specific behaviors that are
widely unacceptable. Hence, public discussions of spam typically get
sidetracked (repeatedly) just trying to define what it is.  Individuals
tend to have strongly held opinions about the definition.  The problem
is in getting a single definition that is both useful guidance for
engineering and is embraced by the community at large.

So far, no technique has reduced the total load of spam. Some techniques
reduce some kinds of spam, but the total has only grown. So when a
person insists that they have the magic bullet that will kill this
critter, it is prudent to be skeptical. We have no track-record of
success in this domain, and any attempt to modify a social system is
always burden by unexpected -- and usually undesirable -- side-effects.
It's not that we should do nothing, but rather than we should take
actions much more carefully than many folks seem to appreciate.

And concerning the eagerness to toss out current Internet mail in favor
of some new and better thing, we need to ask what are the specific
problems with existing email that we know need to be solved, in order to
reduce spam? Once we agree on the operational requirements, we can
consider the engineering task, either as one more enhancement to the
existing service or as a new service.

But when we talk about a new service, we should think quite hard about
the impact of displacing email service for 100+ million people.

d/
--
 Dave Crocker <mailto:dcrocker () brandenburg com>
 Brandenburg InternetWorking <http://www.brandenburg.com>
 Sunnyvale, CA  USA <tel:+1.408.246.8253>, <fax:+1.866.358.5301>


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