Devdas Bhagat wrote:
On 18/04/04 14:54 -0400, Dr. Jeffrey Race wrote:
<snip>
Rather than making mail filters poll a central site (these have in the past been
victimized by DDOS attacks), maybe one approach here might be to set up a
Yahoogroup that could be used to rapidly distribute these "disreputable domain
names" and IP addresses along with a utility which would add them to the
recipients' HOSTS files (and from there, to their incoming mail filters).
This approach has been proposed previously on net.admin.net-abuse.email.
You will need a way to verify that the data is correct. Suggestions were
PGP/GPG signing the message.
Quite a few DNSBLs already allow access to the raw zonefiles via rsync.
It should be fairly easy to convert that data into a format usable by
the local DNS server.
There has been talk about many DNSBL operators about a P2P distribution
system or perhaps even using an existing P2P system such as FreeNet.
Lack of commong protocols is a bit of a problem.
Spam would stop worldwide within DAYS if most of us, instead of whining
and coming up with impractical technical or legal 'solutions', would
agree to do on the Internet what society does in every other field
of human activity: ensure that actions have consequences. It is THAT
SIMPLE. (Any parent knows.)
Consequences to whom? Sender identification methods attempt to identify
the sender so that appropriate measures can be taken against the sender.
Blocking based on DNSBLs stops supposedly spam supporting senders.
For most users, the need is to stop the spam without blocking legitimate
mail from the same host. This is what drives the concept of filtering
over using a DNSBL.
Collateral damage is an issue. Another issue is the fact that blocking
is not communicated to the sender in many cases but the messages are
swallowed silently. As for community-based systems, rule of the mob is
not always good.
I am not saying this approach is bad, rather it has issues that must be
worked out. If all of these issues are taken into account, such system
may very well do a lot of good.
For example, if there are standards for communications among ISPs and
networks for both blocking and abuse reporting, this can improve things
a lot. If the issue of colleteral damage is taken into account, it can
help. If DNSBLs are run properly and accountable to the community, it
will increase their accuracy. If community based systems can account for
a possibility of someone subverting the system ("rule of the mob") they
can become more widespread.
At this time it seems that senders and receivers will be asked to
exchange credentials when sending email and matched against their
reputation in third party databases. This can benefit from standards.
Yakov
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