[Subject changed to be more readable, was "Re: [Asrg] [1] Why SPAM is
worse in SMTP than in other protocols". Mod.]
Alan DeKok wrote:
I've written a *very* rough first draft of a document. It's
available at:
http://www.striker.ottawa.on.ca/~aland/smtp-sucks/problems.txt
If there's interest in contributing to the document, I'll set up a
mailing list, and we can continue from there.
Even as rough as it is, I feel very positive about it. It gives a
number of *concrete* reasons as to why spam is worse in SMTP than in
any other protocol. It allows us to classify the anti-spam measures,
and see which part of spam they fight.
It also allows us to demonstrate the flaws in anti-spam measures.
e.g. "Pull" addresses one feature of SMTP which enables spam, but in
isolation, doesn't address others. Therefore, pull alone is
insufficient to stop spam.
The largest problem I can see with any attempt to "patch" SMTP to
fix it's design flaws is the continued existence of older servers.
Many older servers which won't implement any new anti-spam "fix" will
be sending spam, and many others won't be sending spam. It will be
very difficult to tell the difference between the two, which
severely limits the effectiveness of any anti-spam system.
Alan DeKok.
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Yakov Shafranovich / asrg <at> shaftek.org
SolidMatrix Technologies, Inc. / research <at> solidmatrix.com
"I want to know G-d's thoughts... the rest are details" (Albert Einstein)
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