Microsoft takes on spam zombies

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Not a solution

Microsoft is to be applauded for taking down as many Zombie authors as possible, but this will not contribute measurably to stopping the overall spam problem.

There are 3 conditions that must exist for spam to continue to plague us:

1. E-mail is incredibly cheap to send, so spammers can send out bucket loads at almost no expense

2. Human nature: people want to sell products, promote ideas, or pursue criminal acts

3. SMTP: The "universal rail standard" on which e-mail operates has no access control built in to it

If you can eliminate or change one of these 3 conditions, there would no longer be spam. For example, adding a fee or pursuing some sort of "bonded e-mail" scheme would make spamming no longer cost efficient, but unfortunately getting such a scheme adopted by all is difficult and easily co-opted by spammers that participate.

Changing human nature is not going to happen, either.

The solution to spam lies in "fixing" the deficiency in the SMTP protocol.

Microsoft, and Yahoo/Cisco are attempting to enhance SMTP communications with their sender-identity based initiatives (Sender ID and Domain Keys, respectively) which is definitely a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, it's going to take too long for everyone to adopt these new standards, and what do you do with mail from a legitimate but not yet participatory senders? Bounce it? Even if fully adopted, the sponsors admit that these are not total solutions as planned, but will "help".

But hats off to Microsoft for demonstrating leadership in the fight against spam!

The real solution to spam will be something that can be adopted unilaterally, and which is sender-identity based, and which delivers 100% relief of the problem when adopted. It's out there somewhere!

Posted by: mcisaac   Posted on: 10/31/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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