Re: [Asrg] Re: Spam, why is it still a problem?

In message <43CCC3B6(_dot_)40706(_at_)linuxbox(_dot_)org>, Gadi Evron <ge(_at_)linuxbox(_dot_)org> 
writes
> Why should I accept murder, rape? Or perhaps even just smallish-time stuff?
>
> We should always strive for betterment, and I believe the guy asking 
> the question meant it in a non FUSSP fashion, i.e.:
> How do we explain to the END USER why there is still spam?
I seem to have started the most active discussion this list has had in a 
long time and I'm glad that the replies so far have been quite 
constructive.
I'm not suggesting any FUSSP. However I am suggesting two things

1. That a lot more can be done with what we know

2. That if we accept the existing infrastructure is ultimately 
inadequate then the plan to get us onto the next infrastructure needs to 
be worked on, published, communicated and marketed in order to get wide 
acceptance.
Some examples to back up 1.

This group looks defunct, the news site has had nothing for 2 years
http://asrg.sp.am/about/news.shtml
The best practice subgroup folded in 2003
http://asrg.sp.am/subgroups/bcp.shtml

Best practice is essential to ensure that we are clear about what we 
want and don't want. e.g. no challenge-response.
Once the best practice is established, a review of current anti-spam 
vendors could be undertaken and published and only those conforming to 
best practice would be recommended. People would then have informed 
choice and independent advice on tools on market, further encouraging 
best practice amongst the other vendors. (analogy is the Consumers 
Association publishing reviews of consumer products and rating them but 
in the UK the market leading Dyson vacuum is consistently refused a 
"best buy" recommendation because according to the CA it fails to meet 
their minimum standard for reliability).
Can anyone here list for instance the top 10 tools by market share for
1. Businesses wishing a corporate in house solution
2. ISPs wishing an email hosting solution and
3. Individuals wanting a POP3/IMAP based solution
and of these which conform to the best practice (and I don't know what 
this is as there isn't a current version here 
http://asrg.sp.am/subgroups/bcp.shtml)
If we have to think about this, how does the rest of the Internet 
community decide? I did find this, is there anything more concise or 
relevant from a casual end user perspective?
http://mipassoc.org/spamops/draft-hutzler-spamops-05.txt

Having then promoted and encouraged best practice we can then enjoy more 
benefit from the technologies we already have.
Moving on then to the next stage, if these technologies are still deemed 
inadequate because of false positives or an unacceptable quantity of 
spam (+ phishing + viruses and worms etc) arriving  then a global 
upgrade of email in some form needs to happen. Whilst I'm not denying 
this is a difficult job I don't think it's quite as hard as people make 
out. Especially for those people who find their legitimate email blocked 
they could easily be persuaded to join in some form of sender reputation 
based framework as there's something in it for them. e.g.
http://mipassoc.org/dkim/specs/draft-allman-dkim-ssp-01.txt

Crucially by having this funded and developed as open source, the 
Internet community at large would be able to download it for free and 
there could be a market for add-ons and commercial services on top of 
it. Look at the success of 100 million downloads of Firefox in a year. A 
public momentum which allows personal users to download their own 
anti-spam next generation software independent of what their ISP chooses 
to do would build its own movement in much the same way that the growth 
of Firefox seems to have greatly reduced the number of websites saying 
"Internet explorer only".
It would be useful to actually see a roadmap of where we imagine things 
going in terms of the optimal solutions *this group* recommends and the 
expected time-frame to implement them and the actual delivery mechanism 
for these to ensure wide take up e.g. marketing strategy, platform 
availability, and so on. Who if anyone is currently project managing 
this effort and if such a person is needed would a task not be to fund 
such a post? Is a mozilla.org equivalent for spam what's required here?

Craig

p.s. Please don't reply to me AND the list. Once is enough thanks.
--
Craig Cockburn ("coburn"). http://www.SiliconGlen.com/
Please sign the Spam Petition: http://www.siliconglen.com/spampetition/
Home to the first online guide to Scotland, founded 1994.
Scottish FAQ, weddings, website design, stop spam and more!

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