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Re: FW: [Asrg] 0. General

2004-03-30 16:37:25
At 12:15 PM -0400 2003/10/23, David Maxwell wrote:

 I can separate the emotional issues in that situation from the technical
 problems caused by spam which are affecting all users of email. Can you?

I'm saying that there may be the most grave real-world consequences to actions taken by this group, and that any proposal to deal with the overall spam situation needs to take these matters seriously. Even if the propose solution neither helps nor hinders people in this kind of situation, we need to be explicit about this effect. We especially need to be explicit about the consequences when we do either help or hinder.

 Instead of using your energy to try to prevent progress in solving the
 spam problem, why don't you use it to develop a system that supports a
 solution to this problem you feel strongly about.

I'm not trying to prevent progress. I'm trying to point out that there may be unintended side-effects to the recommendations made by this group, and we need to keep things like this in mind during the process.

 If someone _consents_ to receiving mail from these activists, they can
 configure an SMTP (or other protocol which might be less likely to
 be sniffed!) server to accept connections from anyone, anonymously.

Connection analysis. The CIA and KGB have been very good at doing this sort of thing. You don't need to know the content of the communication itself -- just finding out who is talking to whom is usually enough.

When you "fix" the protocol to remove this kind of ability, you need to keep in mind the potential consequences.

 That in no way implies that everyone on the planet should be FORCED to
 'consent' to accepting mail from anyone, anonymously.

        Agreed.  But you need to keep in mind the consequences.

--
Brad Knowles, <brad(_dot_)knowles(_at_)skynet(_dot_)be>

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
    -Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania.

GCS/IT d+(-) s:+(++)>: a C++(+++)$ UMBSHI++++$ P+>++ L+ !E-(---) W+++(--) N+
!w--- O- M++ V PS++(+++) PE- Y+(++) PGP>+++ t+(+++) 5++(+++) X++(+++) R+(+++)
tv+(+++) b+(++++) DI+(++++) D+(++) G+(++++) e++>++++ h--- r---(+++)* z(+++)

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