From: "William H. Geiger III" <whgiii@amaranth.com>
Date: Sat, 24 May 1997 02:46:58 +0800
To: Alan <alano@teleport.com>
Subject: Re: Spam Prevention System?
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.3.96.970523101839.6292E-100000@linda.teleport.com>
Message-ID: <199705231820.NAA01390@mailhub.amaranth.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


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In <Pine.GSO.3.96.970523101839.6292E-100000@linda.teleport.com>, on
05/23/97 
   at 11:27 AM, Alan <alano@teleport.com> said:

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>> 
>> In <199705230854.EAA23450@dhp.com>, on 05/23/97 
>>    at 02:54 AM, lucifer@dhp.com (lucifer Anonymous Remailer) said:
>> 
>> >I was wondering if perhaps a way to minimize the hassle with sitting on
>> >one's thumb while waiting for unwanted email to download could be eased
>> >by an email program which retreived only headers, allowed you to delete
>> >the unwanted ones, and then retrieve the wanted ones, deleting the rest.
>> >  Is this feasible?
>> 
>> Yes it is but will not help much. As seen with the subject lines of the
>> ascii art posted to the list it is quite simple to give a message a
>> subject that would not reveal that it was spam until the entire message
>> was downloaded and opened.

>Misleading spam subject lines are nothing new.  (Just got one today, in
>fact entitled "Aren't you the one who...".) 

>The idea (in the spammers small little brain) is to make the subject
>something that you would want to open and read.  (Why they think I am
>willing to wade through 20+k of marketting drivel is beyond me...) Much
>of these ideas are similar to direct mail marketting campaigns, but
>without the graphical or ethical content.

>The idea behind marketing spam is that people are more willing to buy
>your product if you spit in their face first or attack it to rocks and
>throw it through their windows.

>Now all that needs to happen if for these people to get a connection to
>the clue server and figure out that such actions are not helping them
>any.

>[Clue #1 for Spammers:  If you have to hide the source of your message,
>maybe there is something seriously wrong with how you are delivering it.]
>  


Well the saddest thing of all is that this type of mass marketing works.
:(

It truly is a sorry commentary of the sheeple of this country. If they
didn't make money off this and increase their sales the spam (and all
other blind mass marketing) would disappear.

- -- 
- -----------------------------------------------------------
William H. Geiger III  http://www.amaranth.com/~whgiii
Geiger Consulting    Cooking With Warp 4.0

Author of E-Secure - PGP Front End for MR/2 Ice
PGP & MR/2 the only way for secure e-mail.
                          
Finger whgiii@amaranth.com for PGP Key and other info
- -----------------------------------------------------------
 
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