[lug] off topic, spam laws

[D. Stimits]

Sean Reifschneider wrote:
> 
> On Sun, Feb 10, 2002 at 09:41:10PM -0700, Rob Riggs wrote:
> >No, the answer is in the RBL, or similar tool. The RBL is very effective
> >at blocking spam. It is not affected by international borders the way
> 
> Yes, very effective...  Maybe 80% effective on my mailbox.  About 3 to 7
> messages get by it per day.

How exactly does RBL work? Since I point directly at the ISP via NS, can
it still be used? And is it able to bounce messages back, and tell the
sender they are banned, so they will stop, or does it make the sender
believe they got through?

> 
> It still sucks, though...  It'd be nice to get rid of spam.

I don't mean to stop all spam. I do mean to take those who break the
laws see it as more than a joke and have some effect at hurting them
financially. Or if they do something fraudulent to hide who they are,
get it to be publicly defined as the fraud it is, and not a mere civil
suit problem. Getting rid of the repeat mass abusers would do a *lot*. I
tend to think that a few spam list abusers sell their lists or email as
a service in a repeat fashion, and that stopping them at the source
would be a benefit. For example, if someone blatantly lies by saying
"you are receiving this because you asked to be spammed", I would like
them to be held accountable to prove it (within some reasonable way, not
something absurd), or else face fraud charges.

I used to be on the kernel devel list, which is very low in spam. But I
left it because I didn't have time for it with all the other things I
get. I go to sleep late at night and wake up in the morning and have
over 100 emails. Throughout the day I probably end up with another 150
or 200. About 20% of it is from repeat commercial spammers, including
lots of pyramid schemes, Chinese web sites trying to look American and
offering stocks, tons of Korean web sites wanting to sell every product
imaginable. My favorite are the ones that offer for a fee to be a bulk
spammer in my name. But I also get legitimate email from people all over
the world, and I hate the idea of just throwing things out based on some
rule that might mess up. Specific domains I would be glad to block
entirely, but they for example are dedicated spam domains, and not
general ISP domains. It leaves me smacking my head on the wall trying to
figure how to tell these people that "no means no".

D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com

> 
> Sean
> --
>  The "PEANUTS" gang finds their first root-kit in "YOU'RE AN 3L33T H4CK3R
>  NOW, CHARLIE BROWN".
> Sean Reifschneider, Inimitably Superfluous <jafo at tummy.com>
> tummy.com - Linux Consulting since 1995. Qmail, KRUD, Firewalls, Python
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