Re: [tlug] giving up on email

[David Santinoli <u235@example.com>]

On Sat, Apr 10, 2004 at 11:50:45AM +0200, Godwin Stewart wrote:
> 
> What we need is a filter which examines the incoming mail, goes
> through all the usual deobfuscation hoops automatically and then looks
> up where the domain is hosted. If the domain is hosted in China, Korea
> or Brazil, or if it no longer resolves, then there's a 99.9999% chance
> that the mail containing it was spam.

I heard about some piece of software actually performing these checks.
However, this strategy seems viable for personal use only - lookups
require time, and carefully crafted messages containing tens or hundred
of domain names in control of the spammer could DOS a mail server.
(Checking the authoritative name servers of the spamvertised domains
instead of the hostnames might be a bit more secure.)

Anyway, I'd also check Spamhaus and/or SPEWS in addition to the
geographical black lists.


> Judging by your e-mail address (the TLUG server strips headers) you're
> posting from Italy.

Correct.

> Have the anti-spam laws enacted last year made any perceptible
> difference to your spam load? Over here (next door to you in fact in
> France) the flow is just as strong - or would be if
> it.countries.nerd.dk wasn't in use on my MTA...

AFAIK the law you're probably referring to (June 2003) doesn't really
feature dramatic spam-specific improvements with respect to its previous
incarnation (the 1996 Data Protection Act).  The 1996 Act, in turn, did
not even mention e-mail; instead, it set up general rules for personal
data treatment.  Around 2001, people started to realize that, in lack of
more appropriate legislation, spammers could be sued for privacy
violation; the 1996 Act defined a procedure for reporting such
violations to the Data Protection Agency, and possibly get some
indemnification.  This sort of "lightweight legal suit" soon proved
quite effective, as it was resorted to by an ever increasing number of
spam victims.  (Up to now, I've won 5 out of 5 of these suits, for a
grand total of 860 euro.)
Recently, these issues have got quite a good media coverage, which IMHO
helped spammers to learn their lesson.  I receive very, very little
Italian spam now (I mean, spam which an Italian merchant would take
benefit of) - say 0.5 per month or so.

Of course, the abuse of Italian network resources by third parties, and
the lack of appropriate reaction by some providers - which I guess is
probably the cause of your blacklisting - is an entirely different
matter.

Cheers
 David
-- 
 David Santinoli, Milano             +   <david@example.com>
 Independent Linux/Unix consultant   +   http://www.santinoli.com