1997-01-03 - Re: Hardening lists against spam attacks

Header Data

From: “Frank O’Dwyer” <fod@brd.ie>
To: Bill Frantz <cypherpunks@toad.com
Message Hash: 6f76f94a0a109563811b99166addc137f193b0646f146b96f0479db611278510
Message ID: <199701031110.LAA31173@brd.ie>
Reply To: <v0300780eaef08245ba4e@[199.182.128.36]>
UTC Datetime: 1997-01-03 20:07:39 UTC
Raw Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 12:07:39 -0800 (PST)

Raw message

From: "Frank O'Dwyer" <fod@brd.ie>
Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 12:07:39 -0800 (PST)
To: Bill Frantz <cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Hardening lists against spam attacks
In-Reply-To: <v0300780eaef08245ba4e@[199.182.128.36]>
Message-ID: <199701031110.LAA31173@brd.ie>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



> [...] the drivel that comes from some of our more prolific posters is
> best handled by filtering by the list members themselves.  (I currently
> have 3 of them going directly to the trash.  Perhaps aga should get
> kickbacks from Qualcomm.  He managed to sell a copy of EudoraPro.)

It would be nice if each user could install filters on Majordomo itself.
Not only would we not need to buy Eudora Pro, but we wouldn't have to
pay to download messages we didn't want to read, and without having
to employ a moderator (censor). The most serious drawback 
I can think of is the slight loss of privacy involved in revealing
one's filtering preferences to the server - however, the people who
get filtered are generally no secret.  You just told the list you
filter aga for example. 

In conjunction with your token scheme (maybe even without it), something 
like that could cut volume really nicely.  In conjunction with anonymous
subscription, people might be willing to run more powerful filters on 
the server end (positive filtering, keyword search, etc) [that would need 
some kind of token scheme, else spammers/mailbombers could just stuff 
their articles with keywords].  It might even be possible to implement 
a feature like 'subscribe cypherpunks-lite', where you get subscribed to 
a list minus the most filtered posters...

Cheers,
Frank O'Dwyer







Thread