Dave Crocker <dcrocker(_at_)brandenburg(_dot_)com> wrote:
Spam does not require forging. Forging is simply a convenient hack,
so it is used... for now.
FYI, I have been in discussions with large financial 1institutions,
who see forgery as a serious problem. Tracking down and/or stopping
forged spam is a high priority for them, and will save them large
amounts of money. They don't see forgery as a "convenient hack" for
spammers, they see it as a direct and purposeful attack on their
business.
Spammers have shown an impressive degree of adaptability. Take
away one convenient hack and they find others.
The locks on my doors stop certain kinds of criminals. I know that
they don't stop determined criminals, but I still use the locks. The
locks stop the casual thieves, and more than pay for themselves.
I know that there will probably always be spam, and that it's
impossible to get rid of *all* of it. But calling a direct attack on
someones name a "convenient hack" belittles other peoples problems and
their attempts to deal with those problems.
Spammers forge peoples names to gain false association with an
established positive reputation, or to move the negative side-effects
of spam onto third parties. Stopping forgery will have a direct
positive effect on the reputation and administration costs of innocent
bystanders.
Alan DeKok.