AW: Proposed Change to ITU-SG16 Mail List Procedures
Greg,
I appreciate your initiative to reduce the email spam on this list. I understand that spam is at least annoying, but sometimes even dangerous when viruses are conveyed. Of course, an effective countermeasure is required, that is also simple to use.
While I'm not a mailing list expert and do not know about the particular constraint of this list, my understanding is, that posting a message to this list now would become a 2 stage process. This could counter the spam but at the price of user friendliness. My slight concern is, that some people might feel discouraged to post something just because the procedure sounds complicated. As traffic has already decreased considerably as compared to former years, we should seek for a procedure that does not put burden on the honest users.
I'm not certain whether anybody can send stuff to this list, regardless of being subscribed or not. Thus, this sounds as a minimal precaution to make sure that any posting origins just from an authorized email address, where authorization means that the originator has been registered by the mailing list administrator. Is the listserv system able to check this? Would this help?
Kind Regards
Martin Euchner. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | Dipl.-Inf. Phone: +49 89 722 55790 | Martin Euchner Fax : +49 89 722 46841 | Siemens AG | ICN M SR 3 mailto:Martin.Euchner@icn.siemens.de mailto:Martin.Euchner@icn.siemens.de | mailto:martin.euchner@ties.itu.int mailto:martin.euchner@ties.itu.int | Hofmannstr. 51 Intranet: http://intranet.icn.siemens.de/marketing/sr/pages/122/122_euchner.htm http://intranet.icn.siemens.de/marketing/cs27/ | D-81359 Muenchen Internet: http://www.siemens.de http://www.siemens.de | __________________ | Germany -----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: Meyer, Greg W [SMTP:greg.w.meyer@INTEL.COM] Gesendet am: Mittwoch, 26. September 2001 03:17 An: ITU-SG16@mailbag.cps.INTEL.COM Betreff: Proposed Change to ITU-SG16 Mail List Procedures
Dear ITU-SG16 Experts:
I have noticed a dramatic increase in SPAM on the ITU-SG16 mail list. As administrator of the list, I would like to hear about a proposed change that will decrease the amount of SPAM and other mail messages including potentially harmful email (viruses, etc.).
I can set LISTSERV to require the sender of a message to acknowledge the message before LISTSERV will send it. So to send a message, you would send it in the usual way but before it gets sent to the mail list, LISTSERV will send you a message. If you respond to the message, you authorize LISTSERV to send the message. Since most SPAM is spoofed, the "sender" will not acknowledge LISTSERV and the message will not get sent.
I would appreciate hearing if there are any concerns with this method before I implement it. I will follow-up this email later to announce what action I have taken to this ITU-SG16 list.
Thank you,
Greg Meyer Intel Corporation email: greg.w.meyer@intel.com
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----- Original Message ----- From: "Euchner Martin" Martin.Euchner@ICN.SIEMENS.DE To: ITU-SG16@mailbag.cps.INTEL.COM Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2001 8:21 AM Subject: AW: Proposed Change to ITU-SG16 Mail List Procedures
Greg,
I appreciate your initiative to reduce the email spam on this list. I
understand that spam is at >least annoying, but sometimes even dangerous when viruses are conveyed. Of course, an >effective countermeasure is required, that is also simple to use.
While I'm not a mailing list expert and do not know about the particular
constraint of this list, >my understanding is, that posting a message to this list now would become a 2 stage process. >This could counter the spam but at the price of user friendliness <SNIP>
Martin Euchner.
Greg,
A simple answer to remove most of your spam at server level is to use some of many good blackhole lists that verify open (insecure) relays, and qualified spam senders then put them in a DNS type list that your mail server can query. If your using sendmail then you can just add the following into your sendmail.mc: FEATURE(dnsbl, `blackholes.mail-abuse.org', `"550 Mail from " $&{client_addr} " rejected, see http://mail-abu se.org/cgi-bin/lookup?" $&{client_addr}') FEATURE(dnsbl, `relays.mail-abuse.org', `"550 Mail from " $&{client_addr} " rejected; see http://mail-abuse.o rg/cgi-bin/nph-rss?" $&{client_addr}') FEATURE(dnsbl, `dialups.mail-abuse.org', `"550 Mail from dial-up rejected; see http://mail-abuse.org/dul/endu ser.htm"')
For more information see: http://mail-abuse.org/ and/or http://www.ordb.org/ http://www.orbl.org/ http://www.orbz.org/
regards, rob.c
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On Wednesday 26 September 2001 8:21 am, Euchner Martin wrote:
I'm not certain whether anybody can send stuff to this list, regardless of being subscribed or not. Thus, this sounds as a minimal precaution to make sure that any posting origins just from an authorized email address, where authorization means that the originator has been registered by the mailing list administrator. Is the listserv system able to check this? Would this help?
I don't know about the ability of listserv to check this but it is generally a very effective measure against spam.
Typically what happens is that posts that don't come from subscribers get forwarded to the list admin for approval prior to posting. Most list software also offers either user or admin driven whitelisting so that people who are subscribed at one address but post from another (or several others) don't need to have their posts approved every time they post. The main disadvantage of this scheme is list becoming partially moderated.
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Dear Mr. Euchner,
[...]I'm not certain whether anybody can send stuff to this list, regardless of being subscribed or not. Thus, this sounds as a minimal precaution to make sure that any posting origins just from an authorized email address, where authorization means that the originator has been registered by the mailing list administrator. Is the listserv system able to check this? Would this help?
This measure was once considered. A practical problem is that some users are receiving messages through a secondary reflector. For example, most of Japanese experts are receiving messages through TTC reflector that is subscribed to the Intel reflector. This is in expectation of Intel's reduced administrative load. Even active members cannot post when they are subscribed to the secondary reflector.
If it is really necessary, then we can request all experts to subscribe directly to the Intel reflector. However, it is appreciated if there is another means.
Best regards,
OKUBO Sakae ********************************************************* Global Information and Telecommunication Institute (GITI) Waseda University 29-7 Waseda University Bldg. 1-3-10 Nishi-Waseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-0051 Japan e-mail: okubo@giti.waseda.ac.jp Tel: +81 3 3204 8194 Fax: +81 3 5286 3832 *********************************************************
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Can the reflector support a "approved sender" list that consists of subscribers + others who request to send but choose not to receive at the same address? This would allow those like Mr Okubo describes, that wish to receive through a secondary reflector to still be considered approved senders.
OKUBO Sakae wrote:
Dear Mr. Euchner,
[...]I'm not certain whether anybody can send stuff to this list, regardless of being subscribed or not. Thus, this sounds as a minimal precaution to make sure that any posting origins just from an authorized email address, where authorization means that the originator has been registered by the mailing list administrator. Is the listserv system able to check this? Would this help?
This measure was once considered. A practical problem is that some users are receiving messages through a secondary reflector. For example, most of Japanese experts are receiving messages through TTC reflector that is subscribed to the Intel reflector. This is in expectation of Intel's reduced administrative load. Even active members cannot post when they are subscribed to the secondary reflector.
If it is really necessary, then we can request all experts to subscribe directly to the Intel reflector. However, it is appreciated if there is another means.
Best regards,
OKUBO Sakae
Global Information and Telecommunication Institute (GITI) Waseda University 29-7 Waseda University Bldg. 1-3-10 Nishi-Waseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-0051 Japan e-mail: okubo@giti.waseda.ac.jp Tel: +81 3 3204 8194 Fax: +81 3 5286 3832
For help on this mail list, send "HELP ITU-SG16" in a message to listserv@mailbag.intel.com
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participants (5)
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Euchner Martin -
Mark Brown -
OKUBO Sakae -
rob.c -
Terry L Anderson