From: Dave Crocker <dhc2(_at_)dcrocker(_dot_)net>
To: John Leslie <john(_at_)jlc(_dot_)net>
Cc: Iljitsch van Beijnum <iljitsch(_at_)muada(_dot_)com>; IETF Discussion
<ietf(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org>
Date: 27 February 2004 07:38
Subject: Re: Principles of Spam-abatement
John,
If we can communicate the fact that a message is discarded because it
was categorized as spam back to the sender without adverse side
unfortunately, that act of communication _is_ the adverse side
effect. it tells the spammer that yours is an active, responsive
email account.
So send it back from a different e-mail address, with headers which
disguise its real origin.
One reason why spam works is that it is so cheap to send 1M messages that
even if 99.99% fail to reach a destination, the operation is still a
success. If sending 1M messages got back a 1% response saying 'you
failed' with no clue as to which 1% failed, we might cut down on the spam.
Tom Petch
--
Dave Crocker <dcrocker-at-brandenburg-dot-com>
Brandenburg InternetWorking <www.brandenburg.com>
Sunnyvale, CA USA <tel:+1.408.246.8253>