> From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Jul 31 16:34:18 2003
>
>
> On -5925-Thu, Jul 31, 2003 at 11:52:39AM -0700, Alan Connor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> spake thus,
> > I get about 3 a day of those, the full file at 200+ kb. Like all spam that
> > comes to my box, it goes directly to /dev/null with no stops in between.
> >
> > Only a couple of lines in the log file stay behind.
> >
> > If you are running a windoze box, better make sure that your mail program is
> > not set to automatically open attachments, because it will trash your OS in
> > a blink. You don't have to open it....Happened to a friend.
> >
> >
> > Alan
>
> Part of me is satisfied by the destruction this idea has caused so
> many people with little common sense. Every single spam mail that
> escapes SpamAssassin surprises me with new ideas to take advantage of
> the intellectually challenged.
>
> At my previous workplace, after the second trojan invasion caused by
> mindless drones in the sales or accounting departments opening "Anna
> Kournikova Naked Pics" attachments without checking the sender or file
> type first, I suggested to our sysadmin that he send out an email that
> would say "This is a virus, do not open the attachment under any
> circumstances" and attach a simple VB script that would send an e-mail
> to him. I instructed him to fire those who opened the attachment in
> the name of intellectual Darwinism. He never did it, unfortunately.
>
That is a BRILLIANT idea! But here you are dealing with the with the fact
that though people SAY they want to stop spam, they are lying to themselves
and others.
They are saying, in effect " I don't want any strangers to walk in my door
without knocking, except for SOME strangers."
Doesn't make any sense.
Spam is UCE (unsolicited commercial email) and stopping it can only be done
with a Challenge-Response mail program, such as the one I put together.
There isn't ANY other approach that works.
What people mean when they say they are fed up with spam, is that they are
fed up with SOME spam, but want to get the others.
There simply is no way that a "negative" approach will work. The "don't pass"
list is infinite and its characteristics are ever-changing.
So they end up spending good money on programs that kill things they would
like to see, and don't kill things they find objectionable, because these
programs are obsolete a week after they are released.
To stop spam you have to decide who you WANT to hear from, and dump EVERYTHING
else.
You cannot accept any mail that doesn't have a valid return address.
> I can't say any of those have landed in my inbox, though ;-) Straight
> to ~/mail/spam with no stops in between.
>
See? You aren't blocking spam, you are saving mail that MIGHT be spam
to a directory and then reading through it.
Why? Because SpamAssasin doesn't work, and will never work.
If any mail comes to me from an email address or domain that isn't on my
pass list, it goes to /dev/null and an auto-response is sent to whatever
return address the sender supplied.
It asks them to re-send the mail including a password on the subject line
and insists that they use it with the same address used to acquire it.
Obviously, if the address is invalid, they never get the reply.
If the headers have been monkeyed with to the point that procmail can't
process it, it goes to /dev/null. Non-conforming headers are a SURE sign
that a mail is spam, because they are trying to get past your filters.
Which they do, with programs like SpamAssasin.
I don't get ANY spam. It ALL goes straight to /dev/null. If anyone wants me
to read their mail, then they MUST give me their real email address.
Alan
--
For Linux/Bash users: Eliminate spam
with the Mailbox-Sentry-Program.
See: http://tinyurl.com/inpd
for the scripts and docs.
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