Re: Anti-SPAM recommendations

On Wed, Jul 08, 1998 at 04:31:48PM -0700, Bill Houle wrote:
> This is one of the techniques that the SpamDunk ruleset uses. The problem
> is that mailing lists meet this criteria, and I do not want to have to
> manage a list of my subscribed lists. This changes frequently.
My personal opinion is that if you can't even keep track of the lists you're
on, maybe you're just not ready for e-mail...

> The opposite end of the spectrum is something like SpamBouncer, which as I
> understand filters on known spammer addresses (eg, 
> friend(_at_)public(_dot_)com). The
> problem here is that this too is a moving target (and much more dynamic
> than my list-of-lists).
Ah, you've hit on one of my favorite topics. Since discovering Ariel's
SpamBouncer, I have become a bit of an evangelist. :)
Yes, the active method used by SpamBouncer is a moving target, but the good
part is you don't have to keep track of it. Ariel does that for you quite
nicely. Just download an update once a month (or once a week for us more
active types) and it's done for you.
SpamBouncer does require a bit of initial setup on your part, but once that's
done, beyond downloading a single text file now and then, you can pretty much
ignore it. It also does pattern matching in addition active tracking of
spam-hauses.

> I was just wondering if there was any product out there that was a sort of
> happy medium between the two styles. Hueristic-based, low false-positive
> rate, yet with support for an easily edited file of spammer addresses when
> necessary.
Due to the reasons cited above, I tend to think SpamBouncer meets your
criteria here. Maybe 1 spam a month slips past it into my mail box, and even
the amount that hits my server has dropped dramaticly, since SpamBouncer can
be configured to return a false "unknown user" message to the spammer. (The
biggies actually do remove you from their list at that point.)
The rate of false-positives I've seen is EXTREMELY low. 1 low traffic
(quarterly) info-email list I subscribe to with non-RFC compliant list
software, some friends and relatives on high-suspect domains I forgot to put
in my nobounce file. Since I selected the option to save all suspected spam in
an alternate mail folder, I still got the mail.
Also, due to SpamBouncers pro-active approach, the spammer's upstream provider
gets a copy of the complaint, which contributes to that spammers eventual
demise (or at least move to another provider, which gets expensive for them
eventually.)


-- 
Andrew Edelstein

Sarah - Doctor, you're being a child.
The Doctor - Why shouldn't I? There's no point in being an adult if you can't
act childish now and then.              Dr. Who

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