Re: Another anti-spam idea

[Ned Freed <Ned.Freed@INNOSOFT.COM>]

> On Mon, 10 Mar 1997, David Goldsmith wrote:
> > I don't know if this has been suggested before, but how about bouncing
> > messages that don't have the mailing list's address explicitly stated in
> > one of the To: or CC: fields? I know that would bounce messages that are
> > BCC'd to the list, but it seems like that wouldn't be a very frequent
> > technique for legitimate posts to the list. Based on the spams I've seen
> > over the last few weeks, this kind of filter would reject all of them.

As I said before, bouncing messages is not an option as far as I'm concerned,
and I suspect any other conscientious IETF list manager would say the same. I
therefore have to implement some alternative to a straight bounce. I have some
ideas in this area that I am currently coding up, which once I get them
implemented will make it possible for me to use more filtering options than I
can now.

> I suggested precisely that about a week or two ago.

> Can nobody here write a procmail recipe? (I thought it was just me who's
> procmail-challenged...)

I'm quite capable of writing a procmail script. However, you are assuming this
list is hosted on a system capable of running procmail or a procmail script
that I would write. This assumption is false. There's a system comparable to
procmail I could use on  this particular system, but that's not the issue. The
key issue is what action the script can take.

The long and short of it is that you going to have to be a little patient here.
I have lots of other work to do besides running this particular list (which is
but one of the several dozen I look after). I am working on a solution to the
problem as fast as I can, and I hope to have something in place soon. (Of
course every message like this I write merely takes time away from my
coding...)

				Ned

P.S. Please note that I have not been specific about the measures I intend to
take. This is intentional. Broadcasting the details of the filtering you use
merely makes it easier for someone to work around the measures you have taken.
If anyone wants specifics after I have something in place just send me private
email and I will be happy to fill you in.