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Re: Proposal to define a simple architecture to differentiate legitimate bulk email from Spam (UBE)

2003-09-07 01:43:23

And in fact, unless 
you're able
to make the POP check frequency less than the posting frequency, you'll lose.


That is quite an easy optimization to do.

Study Probability Theory and Statistics (a higher level math class).




Whitelisting can be subverted by spammers:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/09/01/spam.chainletter/index.html

"If I were a spammer, I'd be working very hard to perfect this technique," 
he said..."

And your proposal does nothing to stop this, since it won't look like bulk 
mail,
it will look like personal mail.


*plonk* wrong again.  That about roughly 20 *plonks* in a row for you.  You 
have not made one factually correct statement yet in this thread.

The bulkness as measured by ISPs and Hosts (those who can enforce the law in 
real-time) is done by looking at statistics on IPs and packets.  It has nothing 
to do with the mutable fields of email, such as headers or content.

If you don't believe that email can be reliably statistically profiled by the 
source ISP, then go Google before you respond.


Yes we probably do.  Just because the DCC can not measure bulk email reliably
 doesn't mean Hosts, ISPs, and other software can not.  BrightMail already 
is (
just signup for an Earthlink account and try really hard to get some 
spam), and
I will also be probably be demonstrating something soon.

So why do we need to move off mailing lists, when the problem is solved?


Because I wrote "bulk".  I did not write "legitimate bulk".  Current algorithms 
have no way to differentiate the two.  Remember that was the whole point of 
this proposal.  *plonk* you don't even remember what the subject of this thread 
is nor do you read my posts carefully.


It is has nothing to do with what spammers will or will not do.  It has to do

Actually, it has everything to do with what they will or wont do.


But that is the reaction, not the action.  The action (which is first step 
needed) is done by enforcers...



with what Hosts, ISPs, etc are currently prevented from doing.  Since they 
can
not determine what is spam, they can not enforce any law.

And separating out mailing list traffic doesn't change matters, really.


*plonk* again.

I did not write "separate mailing list traffic".  I proposed to "differentiate 
legitimate bulk email from Spam (UBE)" (see the Subject line above).

And if you can separate the legitimate bulk traffic from the UBE traffic, then 
the existing enforcers (BrightMail, DCC, Hosts, ISPs, etc) can take action 
against all remaining bulk which is then all UBE.


You're left with a lot of non-bulk high-volume business e-mail (yes, you WANT
this to get through, otherwise Amazon doesn't have a way to tell you easily
about a problem with your order, or similar), a lot of person-to-person mail,


Agreed all non-bulk.


and a lot of spam pretending to be one or the other of the above.


Which is bulk and can now be attacked by enforcers because the legitimate bulk 
emailer will not be harmed in process, because it is separated.


 The only
thing you've cut out is spam to mailing lists


*plonk* again

We've moved the legitimate bulk email to "pull".  The spam (UBE) gets attacked 
and reduced by existing enforcers that know how to detect bulk.  And then 
non-bulk is untouched.  That is the ideal solution.  Nothing orthogonal at all. 
 You think it is orthogonal because you are not visualizing how the 
architecture change actually works to reduce (or eliminate) spam.


Given that so much spam is already breaking some law, why do you think "the 
ISPs
could enforce a NEW law" would make any difference?


Example.  If I have a customer I am Hosting who is sending bulk email (which I 
as Host or ISP can measure statistically), but that customer claims the email 
is legitimate.  There is nothing I can do in real-time, automated way to refute 
his claim.  The cost for me to attack the spam is greater than the cost I will 
save.  Therefor I punt and say "spam vs. legit bulk email is ambiguous".

Whereas if I have a clear rule that all bulk is spam (UBE), then I can make 
more profit by setting up automated, real-time, statistical blocking.  Now I 
drive the cost of spamming higher, eventually to a point that it is no longer 
profitable.  Not just one enforcer or one type of enforcer, but all the 
examples I gave in my posts take in unison.

If you want to understand any likely action, always study the economics.


Yes my proposal depends on that fact.  Once you have the legitimate email
separated from the spam architecturally, then you can effectively increase 
the
cost of spamming to the point it is a non-economically viable activity.

This would be wonderful, except what you're separating isn't legitimate/spam,
it's mailing list/non mailing list.  The two are orthogonal concepts.


*plonk* again

I do not how you got so confused.  Read above.


*plonk* Somebody wake me up if Shelby starts addressing the actual problem,
rather than an orthogonal non-problem....


Is that enough *plonk*s to wake you up?

At this point, the discussion is getting redundant and boring.  So I think I 
will be signing off soon...perhaps not to answers any more posts... so I think 
my posts already suffice to make my case, irregardless of more *plonks* that 
will inevitably follow this one...


Shelby Moore
http://AntiViotic.com




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