On Mon, Feb 02, 2004 at 04:27:04PM -0500, Tyler Durden wrote: > Well, I'm still wondering... > > Could a TLA or other group, wanting to know who was lurking or otherwise > subscribed to a list (such as cypherpunks) deliberately craft a virus that > was easy to detect, for the purposes of having the automated email reply > systems "out" that subscriber? > > And then, is it possible to create some kind of filter that stops these > replies? > > Of course, it could be very difficult to determine the difference between > an automated reply and a real posting. > > ANyone have any thoughts? > Along these same lines, mightn't a TLA or similar induce someone downstream of them to spam the cypherpunks remailers and collect the identities of those who complain?
At any rate, the two problems reduce to the same one. You could filter AV replies/complaints from the remailers, but there's no way to stop the automoton/spamee from directing it to the virus "sender"/upstream provider directly. Perhaps people who run AV systems which send out automated notifications deserve any unwanted attention they might get this way. regards, petard
