__/ [ spike1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ] on Tuesday 22 August 2006 09:14 \__
> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> did eloquently scribble:
>> Hey, Rex, remember that page of yours about the commercialisation of the
>> Web? Begin the preparation of a page titled "The end of the Web". And I'm
>> not thinking about Net neutrality... I am not alone in thinking this. The
>> golden age is over and dark days are dawning upon us.
>
> If it's getting dark, shouldn't the dark nights be dusking on us?
> :)
*LOL* I wrote that quickly, so I wasn't thinking. The grammar is poor too.
> And I'd say "the end of e-mail" more than the end of the web.
>
> I suppose if ALL ISPs agreed on a new e-mail header...
> It MIGHT be possible to end spam forever. Something like the usenet path
> header. X-Trace. something like that.
>
> If they all used it, and every router that sensed an smtp packet were to
> add X-Trace: its IP address: + the list of previous ones
>
> Then, the next router down the line checks the previous IP address against
> the one in the header and if it doesn't match, drops the packet and
> blacklists the router it came from...
>
> ALL spam would be traceable then.
> OK, it'd cause internet outages and slowdowns for a while until all routers
> started to comply, but once they did. The end of spam? Well, it'd certainly
> all be tracable.
Tracing SPAM and blacklisting hosts (or even C/D-blocks) is something which
is already done by spamcop.net, among other services. SpamAssassin feeds on
these databases, I suspect, through lookups. But here is the issue. I work
with networking and I see people whose computer got infected/hijacked every
now and then. _These_ are the hosts that send you all that spam. The
botmasters attack by proxy. So all you could do is disconnect many users and
see some unhappy faced that whine "but I need to check my hotmail and get on
the Internet (=double-click the Blue E)".
And here comes the bomb: ISP's are lazy. Even UseNet abuse is often
overlooked/altogether ignored. And in some cases, in some 'exotic' places,
you would barely have control over them. Blacklisting does not reduce
traffic. It only protects victims. Many people pay extra for spam filters
(they don't embrace OSS), which doesn't reolve the economic impact.
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | "I regularly SSH to God's brain and reboot"
http://Schestowitz.com | SuSE Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
3:05pm up 33 days 3:20, 8 users, load average: 0.44, 0.49, 0.48
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