Subject: [Asrg] 6. Proposals - Replacing SMTP

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2003 11:24:17 -0500

> This is a quote taken from section 4.1 of 
(http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-crocker-spam-techconsider-02.txt), 
emphasis added:

> -----snip----
"A key construct to examination of adoption and benefit is 
"core-vs-edge".  Generally, adoption at the edge of a system is easier and 
quicker than adoption in the core. If a mechanism affects the core 
(infrastructure) then it usually must be adopted by most or all of the 
infrastructure before it provides meaningful utility. IN SOMETHING THE 
SCALE OF THE INTERNET, IT CAN TAKE DECADES TO REACH THAT LEVEL OF ADOPTION, 
IF IT EVER DOES.

> Remember that the Internet comprises a massive number of independent 
administrations, each with their own politics and funding. What is 
important and feasible to one might be neither to another. If the latter 
administration is in the handling path for a message, then it will not have 
implemented the necessary control mechanism. Worse, it well might not be 
possible to change this.  FOR EXAMPLE A PROPOSAL THAT REQUIRES A BRAND NEW 
MAIL SERVICE IS NOT LIKELY TO GAIN MUCH TRACTION.

> By contrast, some "edge" mechanisms provide utility to the first one, two 
or three adopters who interact with each other. No one else is needed for 
the adopters to gain some benefit. Each additional adopter makes the total 
system incrementally more useful. For example a filter can be useful to the 
first recipient to adopt it. A consent mechanism can be useful to the first 
two or three adopters, depending upon the design of the mechanism."
-----snip----

Thanks for posting that.  That last paragraph, in particular, is a very good 
discussion about why my Permissions List idea is likely to be so successful and 
effective.

First, it's incrementally deployable.  It interacts with the person who first 
uses it, so there is an immediate positive feedback that rewards the 
installation, even if NOBODY else installs it.

Second, my approach doesn't _require_ ANYBODY else to adopt it for it to be 
useful.

The initial adopters will see the *great* majority of spam intercepted because 
of its use of HTML-burdening.

Third, as my approach becomes more widespread, and spammers realize that using 
HTML, attachments, and base64 encoding in their messages is the kiss of death to 
their messages ever being read, they'll revert to plain ASCII text which will 
all by itself cut spam bulk by probably about 70%.

In the process of reverting to plain ASCII text, the GREAT majority of the 
tricks they use to obscure the contents of their spam and confuse/defeat content 
scanners will be denied to them.  This ensures that stuff like SpamAssassin 
should be able to very effectively clean up most of what's left.

Fourth, my approach can be implemented at end-user sites, requiring *NO* changes 
at ISPs or network infrastructure AT ALL.  As the usefulness becomes more 
widespread, I believe that the permissions list filtering will probably move so 
that it occurs as soon as the spam hits the destination domain... either the ISP 
or domain provider.  This will reduce the storage/bandwidth costs at the 
destination ISP, plus will offer the ISP a competitive advantage over ISPs that 
don't offer the service.  Customers not wanting spam (and we've seen with the 
new nationwide do-not-call list how consumers are rushing to take advantage of 
features like this) will obviously prefer ISPs which help control the flood of 
spam.  (And unlike other techniques, mine has the advantage of not being totally 
invisible... the user is more aware of how much spam is being intercepted, which 
means that they appreciate the service much more).

One thing that I've done as a result of the discussions here is that I've 
started implementing some of the stuff we've talked about into my personal 
E-mail processing system.  In particular, it struck me as useful to not just 
route the spam to a "spam" dead-letter-mailbox but also to produce a summary 
list of what's been routed there, and why.  Currently this list is just being 
kept as a file on disk, although I'll probably add the features to periodically 
E-mail it to me, as well as providing an interactive tool of some kind to 
facilitate me dealing with the information in it... (examine. discard, deliver 
anyway, update rules, etc etc)

Note that my present incoming mail filter does not yet implement the Permissions 
List feature (which accounts for some of the stuff I'm seeing in my spam routing 
reports...) but FWIW here's some of the early results, just as an example:

I've inserted [comments] here to explain some of the results and reasons.

[quote]

-----
\\NTS1\HOME\SPAM\INETMAIL\INBOX\MSG57.msg
To: [email-masked]
From: WaterTower Theatre <[email-masked]>
Subject: Final weekend for "the best dramatic production of the season"
Reason: ccprod.roving.com

[ccprod.roving.com is a disreputable domain so any post referring to them gets 
filtered.  In this case, watertowertheare.org is a 'good' outfit so I'll put 
them in my permissions list to allow them to send to me regardless.]

-----
\\NTS1\HOME\SPAM\INETMAIL\INBOX\MSG115.msg
To: [email-masked]
From: "Otis Fournier" <[email-masked]>
Subject: [email-masked] wlxp hftu
Reason: 1

[reason '1' is that the E-mail contains heavily-obscured URLs]

-----
\\NTS1\HOME\SPAM\INETMAIL\INBOX\MSG116.msg
To: [email-masked]
From: [email-masked]
Subject: suespammers digest, Vol 1 #810 - 2 msgs
Reason: ?xml:namespace prefix =3D o ns =3D=20
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /

[this message contained HTML codes my filter didn't like]

-----
\\NTS1\HOME\SPAM\INETMAIL\INBOX\msg117.msg
To: [email-masked]
From: "Willis Piper" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Hi    oqedz33weg7
Reason: www.herbalpillsonline.biz, kxb3p662yy61yl1

[disreputable domain reference, and use of garbage HTML tags to obscure message 
content]

-----
\\NTS1\HOME\SPAM\INETMAIL\INBOX\MSG124.msg
To: [email-masked]
From: [email-masked]
Subject: [HomeOfTheBrave] Digest Number 873
Reason: adserver.trb.com

[disreputable domain reference]

-----
\\NTS1\HOME\SPAM\INETMAIL\INBOX\MSG115.msg
To: [email-masked]
From: "Otis Fournier" <[email-masked]>
Subject: [email-masked] wlxp hftu
Reason: 1

[heavily obscured URL]

-----
\\NTS1\HOME\SPAM\INETMAIL\INBOX\MSG116.msg
To: [email-masked]
From: [email-masked]
Subject: suespammers digest, Vol 1 #810 - 2 msgs
Reason: ?xml:namespace prefix =3D o ns =3D=20
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /

[undesirable HTML tags]

-----
\\NTS1\HOME\SPAM\INETMAIL\INBOX\MSG11.msg
To: [email-masked]
From: "lastminute.com" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Decollez pour Madrid ou repartez avec 2000 euros
Reason: www.lastminute.com, weeklynews2.lastminute.com

[known spammer domains]

-----
\\NTS1\HOME\SPAM\INETMAIL\INBOX\MSG13.msg
To: [email-masked]
From: "Lewis Cartwright" <[email-masked]>
Subject: look good for your wife our husband
Reason: <!sdgdg!>t A<!sdgdg!>ga

[garbage HTML tags used to obscure message content]

-----
\\NTS1\HOME\SPAM\INETMAIL\INBOX\y3988397.msg
To: [email-masked]
From:         Patrick Douglas Crispen <[email-masked]>
Subject: Tourbus -- 8 July 03 -- Attachment Warning / Validators
Reason: -------------+

   * Does your desk look like a toxic waste dump?
   * Do you have piles of paper everywhere?
   * Do you waste an hour a day looking for stuff that's "lost"
     on the top of your desk?

 New eBook, "Winning The Fight Between You and Your Desk" shows you
 how to take a desk that looks like a waste dump, and transform it
 into one that resembles the flight deck of an aircraft carrier.

<A href=" http://SucceedingInBusiness.com/Tourbus.htm "

[false trigger, which I'll resolve by revising my filter rule and probably 
granting this sender permission to send appropriate things]

-----
\\NTS1\HOME\SPAM\INETMAIL\INBOX\y2262277.msg
To: [email-masked]
From: [email-masked]
Subject: [HomeOfTheBrave] Digest Number 879
Reason: javascript:Currency();

[no reason to allow javascript in an E-mail digest!]

-----
\\NTS1\HOME\SPAM\INETMAIL\INBOX\MSG14.msg
To: [email-masked]
From: "Bill" <[email-masked]>
Subject: ABCNEWS.com  U.S. Military Wanted to Provoke War With Cuba.txt
Reason: ehg-dig.hitbox.com

[disreputable domain referenced]

-----
\\NTS1\HOME\SPAM\INETMAIL\INBOX\MSG15.msg
To: [email-masked]
From: "Larry Pfeffer" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re; XML
Reason: !--$/TEMPLATE

[another case where I need to allow a trusted sender to send appropriate things]

[end quote]

Anyhow, what's important here is that this list gives me an indea of what the 
filter-held E-mail in question was represented as containing (the subject), who 
supposedly sent it, how it was addressed, and what the filtering system found in 
it that it didn't like.  Based on that, I can (manually, for now) revise the 
filter, review the message, trash it, deliver it anyway, or whatever.  This is 
the first stage towards a more automated "rapid triage" that will help me to 
refine the permission list.

Gordon Peterson                  http://personal.terabites.com/
1977-2002  Twenty-fifth anniversary year of Local Area Networking!
Support the Anti-SPAM Amendment!  Join at http://www.cauce.org/
12/19/98: Partisan Republicans scornfully ignore the voters they "represent".
12/09/00: the date the Republican Party took down democracy in America.

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