[Premium-Rx] PLEASE READ: Spam Blocker Problems

Mon Dec 29 16:23:30 EST 2003

On Mon, Dec 29, 2003 at 01:09:34PM -0800, jan at skirrow.org wrote:

: <html>
: <body>
: Some ISPs and businesses are installing so-called Spam Blocking software.
: These programs respond to emails with a little test to see if the sender
: is a real person, or a spam server. If you pass the test, any further
: email from your address passes thru unchallenged. If you don't pass the
: test, your message is killed and access is blocked. 
: Great for stopping spam. Awful for things like our Premium-Rx
: list. 
: Anyway - our server IS a computer! It will not pass the test. Any emails
: it sends to you will be blocked and bounced. As a result, after a time
: you will be suspended from the list automatically, and finally
: unsubscribed - all without you or us knowing what's going on. 
: I know little about this software except that it is proliferating - and
: some of you have it. Greg and I have experienced problems trying to
: contact a few members. It may be possible to configure the thing to let
: stuff from specific senders get thru unchallenged. You'll have to talk to
: your service provider and do it from your end. 
: There is nothing that Greg and I can do about this. If you need to change
: to another email address to cope, you do this yourself through your
: personal list page. 
: Good luck! 
: Jan and Greg

Those of us in the business[1] call that "Challenge/Response",        
or "C/R" for short. It is utterly b0rk3n, does not scale, and is      
absolutely abominated by responsible E-mail system administrators.    

One basic test of intelligence for people running C/R software is
whitelisting the mailing lists to which they subscribe. I find it sad
that it is so frequently failed.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year anyway: I'm _almost_ recovered from
the 'flu, after a week away from work and another that I _should_ have
taken off. Maybe I'll get to use my DEBEG 2000 to listen to the 
glowbuggers doing their run-up to the "1929-and-earlier" contest stuff
tonight. Seems appropriate, somehow. 

[1] I run the mailfilters and other stuff for a very large state govt.
    agency in the US midwest.

-- 
Mike Andrews
mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin 