[ATM] SPAM AGAIN!

[Eric S. Johansson]

Chris Rowland wrote:
> I am truly appalled about how complacent the senior members of this 
> group are about their providing email addresses for spammers.
> 
> You don't seem to have the slightest concern that you are providing 
> totally open access to all our email addresses to anyone who wants them, 
> without even the slightest attempt at preventing this.

You have no idea how small a slip or an opening was necessary for an e-mail 
address to leak to spammers.

> Your comments about there being other avenues are like saying there 
> isn't any point in locking your doors because because some people can 
> pick locks.  Its well known that security works because the criminals 
> are lazy and will go elsewhere if you make it more difficult.

Or they break in any way because there are just so many methods to choose from.
> 
> Nobody needs to go to any trouble to harvest email addresses when you 
> provide them with no effort.

do you have any idea how many techniques have been broken by spammers?  Some of 
my mailing lists have private list only archives.  I've had people signed up for 
accounts and never ever post.  If I paid attention to blogs sometimes I find the 
archives are harvested.  The only way to protect archives is to not have them in 
the first place or to a full background check with complete body cavity search 
of every potential subscriber.

Protecting a limited use e-mail address is a fantasy.  The only way you can have 
a hope of protecting your e-mail addresses is to use disposable addresses which 
you discard every three to six weeks.  Of course then e-mail usefulness is limited.

> I'm not suggesting that this is the only way that spam can get to me 
> through this email address but I do think that the ATM list should 
> acknowledge that they are part of the problem and try to alleviate 
> things rather that the current attitude that can basically be summed up 
> as...

every mailing list as part of the problem.  Any place that collects e-mail 
addresses that are even vaguely accessible from the outside world is part of the 
problem.  I've had e-mail addresses I only use internally gets spam.  Like I 
said.  It takes a whisper of an opening for an address to leak
> 
> Tough.

  ya.  It can also be phrased as "deal with the world as it is, not as you want 
it to be."  another option is to work on alternative techniques for dealing with 
spam and mailing lists.  I could use the help.  Must know Python.

---eric

-- 
Speech-recognition in use.  It makes mistakes, I correct some.