At 12:56 PM -0400 6/27/2000, Tim Pierce wrote:
>*Can* you verify that it's a legitimate transfer exclusively
>through human relationships, without sending probe notices
>to random list members?
100%? No. But the simple fact that they have to contact a human and
have the transfer approved will stop all but the most brazen
spammers, because the reason this works is that they can do it
anonymously, via hotmail or some other free email service, and
disappear into the night. Put even a tiny amount of accountability
into the system and it breaks the link.
>Transferring a list from one site to another seems to me like
>a legitimate thing for a list manager to do. I don't think that
>it's unreasonable for the new list server to cope with that situation
>by sending probes that say "please confirm if you are actually
>subscribed to this list."
This is something Michelle Dick has been doing, I believe, and can
speak about it intelligently. There are legitimate reasons why you
might not (as the owner transferring a list) want contact with the
old site admin, but that doesn't mean there aren't ways to validate a
list.
Personally, I'd solve this by setting up some way to validate the
list owner if they want to transfer a list in -- that keeps the
liability of the validity of the list from ending up on the site
instead of the owner, saving you amazing hassle. And forcing the
owner to be non-anonymous and therefore traceable in a case of
spamming would keep the spammers from using the system. It also means
you only have to validate the admin once, no matter how many lists
they transfer.
The problem, unfortunately, isn't just the bulk-load capability for
list transfers, but that combined with the easy accessibility of
anonymous e-mail addresses. The spammer can create an identity long
enough to use the service to send a spam, and fade into the dust
again. Break any of those links and you kill the problem. The easiest
link, from an administrative view (IMHO) is simply make the admin
non-anonymous, because the spammers won't allow that to happen, and
will go elsewhere looking for ways to spam.
--
Chuq Von Rospach - Plaidworks Consulting (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
Apple Mail List Gnome (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
and say 'Man, what are you doing here?'"
