[Milsurplus] SPAM from reflector mail list??

[mikea]

On Fri, Mar 07, 2003 at 10:53:05AM -0600, aGEnuine ham wrote:
> Group:
> 
> Due to a new onslaught of SPAM, I will be changing e-mail addresses
> shortly, but I want to ask some questions of the group.  I have set this
> address up ONLY for two reflectors, both QTH net.  I use them for no
> other communication.  And, you have to admit, GL4D21 isn't something a
> arbitrary address generator is going to hit very often.  So, can anyone
> suggest how that address got on a SPAM mailing list?  Ralph feels the QTH
> servers are secure, so that leaves the Juno server as the likely culprit.
>  Any other Juno users want to compare notes off-list?

In my day job, I'm the antispam-and-mail-filter guy. 

There is a possibility that spammers have signed up for some or all
of the lists on QTH.COM; I can't evaluate the probability, but I
*know* that it is happening on other lists. Some spammers have gone 
so far as to build code to automatically sign up for lists, evaluate 
the confirmation mail, and reply in the format and with the content 
expected by the list software and list owner. 

To counteract that, some lists have begun sending _images_, rather 
than text, of the confirmation token. The spammers have craftily
begun running the images through OCR software, and to counteract
that, the listowners have begun adding noise to the images. It is
yet another death spiral in the ongoing saga of spammers making 
E-mail unusable as a communications medium. $DEITY knows what will
happen next. 

The spammers are a crafty bunch, dedicated to the pursuit of money,
with no regard for the inconvenience and frustration they cause to 
the rest of the world. 

I think that A Radical Change in E-mail is needed; I'm seeing some
rumbles about new or updated protocols, and look forward to getting
*SOMETHING* in place to stem the tide of spam. 

Earlier this week, AOL nuked ONE BILLION[1] spams to its users in 
_ONE_ day. That's a lot of bandwidth, a lot of spam, and a lot of
money and sweat put into fighting it.

[1] (US; One THOUSAND MILLION in European usage) 

-- 
Mike Andrews
mikea@mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin since 1964