SPAM, ABUSE, BLOCK: Steve Ballmer spams domain registration database

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Daniel Golding <dgolding () gmu edu>
Date: October 30, 2004 12:50:44 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] SPAM, ABUSE, BLOCK: Steve Ballmer spams domain 
registration database


For IP...

This email contains several fallacies concerning Microsoft and Spam.

First, an email's envelope and message headers have nothing to do with 
its
actual origination - at least, not yet. These are both easily forged.

In fact, Microsoft is at the forefront of Sender Email Authentication
efforts, which may, with some work, result in a drastic reduction in 
overall
spam volume. Others working on this effort include the SPF development 
team
and AOL. Microsoft has an entire team of developers and mail protocol 
folks
working on spam reduction methods - a considerable investment, 
considering
they are freely licensing the technology.

Also, it is dangerous to assume that an email such as this is spam. 
There
are several other possibilities - the recipient may have been 
subscribed by
an unauthorized party or this may be a "joe-job" to discredit Microsoft 
(and
perhaps, get some of their outgoing mail servers placed on blacklists)

Additionally, Microsoft occasionally outsources mailings to third 
parties.
While Microsoft would still be responsible for their agent's actions, if
this is indeed spam, Microsoft may not actually know about it.

Finally, while it is possible that some Microsoft employee is spamming, 
I
find it unlikely - this is most likely a termination offense within
Microsoft, as it is within other large email and Internet service 
provider
organizations.

While I generally subscribe to Ocaam's razor, it is important to note 
that
in the world of unsolicited email, things are never quite as they seem.

I'm not a Microsoft cheerleader, for the record - I'm writing this on a 
Mac.
However, Microsoft's recent efforts against spam deserve praise rather 
than
approbation.

- Daniel GOlding

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