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Date: | Tue, 24 May 1994 12:48:47 -0400 |
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> On Tue, 24 May 1994 01:35:40 +0200 Eric Thomas said:
> >Well, unfortunately these problems are quite new and there is no single
> >place where you can conveniently say "toss all mail from XYZ.COM". This
> >will clearly have to be added to the next release.
>
> Eric, developing a filtering mechanism to "toss all mail from XYZ.COM" is
> definitely needed, however, this begs the question of what to do about net
> abusers who post their crap to Listserv lists via Usenet mirrors.
>
> A case in point is that guy who posted the message about the end of the world
> to every Usenet newsgroup to which he had access. As a result, all Listserv
> lists in the bit.listserv hierarchy received this guy's crap. I have my
> Listserv lists set so that only subscribers can post messages there, however,
> since this junk mail originated on my List's Usenet mirror, the Listserv
> which hosts my list willingly distributed the mail message.
>
> In order for a filter to block out all postings from a particular host, it
> must also block out postings from that host that are submitted via Usenet.
> The challenge for Eric is not only to develop a new filter to block mail
> messages sent directly Listserv lists; its also filtering out the crap that
> comes from abuses of Usenet that affect Listserv or perhaps the mechanism at
> American University which permits mirroring news groups with Listserv lists
> needs to be changed so it too has a filtering mechanism.
>
>
> Stan Horwitz Internet: [log in to unmask] Bitnet: STAN@TEMPLEVM
> Temple University -- Senior Consultant (My views are all mine!)
> Manager of the Help-Net and Suggest lists and Listserv Postmaster.
>
Stan is right about the origins of the junk mail and many other
offensive pieces of mail. Have any of you been received sexually
offensive mail or mail about sex lines? Some of this appeared on
Convex's list about a year ago and of course it stood out like a
sore thumb in a supercomputer service list. Most of it comes from
Usenet etc. That was why the mail from the Davis internet address
seemed much more threatening.
It does not hit all lists. We are making a big mistake
on this list by talking about it as the amount of mail one of these
posts generates will serve as a poll to the advertiser about the
efficacy of the unwanted mail. The more we acknowledge our
frustration, the more mail we will get. The internet has the
security of a sieve if you do not guard your list--the best remedy
is silence. Turn their evident success in the New York Times and on
CBS into the failure of silence. This is the principle tactic used
to discourage terrorism by some heads of state who conceal their
apprehensions. Silence discourages emulation of the green card's
apparent success. The other problem is that this type of generated
chaos might very well be a deliberate tactic by a single group to
disrupt the electronic superhighway and destroy all of the
pecuniary benefits of the new medium. This too is a commonplace
among state terrorist as many of our European colleagues can
attest. Whole sectors of a prosperous economy can be destroyed
through the chaos caused by a campaign of terror. Paul
--
Dr. Paul S. di Virgilio, University of Toronto [log in to unmask]
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