RE: anti-spam filtering on this list? challenge responses?

At 02:30 PM 7/21/2005 -0700, you wrote:
>Why don't you just delete it? Has the U of Minnesota thought of that one?
>Instead you make more email about the email you don't like. Chances are you
>will get another autoreply by complaining. 
>Rather then have him change something that he obviously needs why don't you
>do that simple 1-click motion and delete it. 
>Jason

This has nothing do with with the U of MN and my comments in regards to the
UMN antispam system were solely to present a tangential alternative method
of handling spam filtering that does not require challenge-response.  Those
comments were separate from the original issue of autoresponders replying
to list-generated email.  (And yes I know I can delete such autoresponder
messages.  It doesn't make poorly designed autoresponders any less
unwanted...kinda like spam in first place.)

Here are some 3rd party comments on the issue of autoresponders for spam
filtering:

http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Mail/challenge-response.html
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:www.iki.fi/era/mail/autoresponder-faq.h
tml+autoresponders+mailing+lists&hl=en
http://www.spamcop.net/fom-serve/cache/329.html#CR

---copy/paste---
Challenge/response spam filtering
    Description: This "selfish" method of spam filtering replies to all
email with a "challenge" - a message only a living person can
(theoretically) respond to. There are several problems with this method
which have been well known for many years.

       1. Does not scale: If everyone used this method, nobody would ever
get any mail.
       2. Annoying: Many users refuse to reply to the challenge emails,
don't know what they are or don't trust them.
       3. Ineffective: Because of confusion about these emails, many of
them are confirmed by people who did not trigger them. This results in the
original malicious email being delivered.
       4. Selfish: This is the problem we are mainly concerned with. By
using challenge/response filtering, you are asking innumerable third
parties to receive your challenge emails just so that a relatively few
legitimate ones get through to the intended recipient. 

    SpamCop abandoned this method of filtering after a short test period in
2001. Another site discussing the problems with challenge/response:
Challenge-Response Anti-Spam Systems Considered Harmful

    Solution: Do not use challenge/response filtering. Although it may stop
most unwanted email for the person shielded by it, it generates more
unwanted email for others.

    Since more and more sites will rightly block these challenge emails,
you can never be sure they will reach their target even when they are not
misdirected themselves. So these systems will lose legitimate mail in an
attempt to stop unwanted mail. 
---end of copy/paste---
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