[Asrg] Shannon Jacob's article on spam

Shannon's email caught my attention. The following is a link to his article,
published on the ACM.

http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/s_jacobs_2.html

I don't really get what he is trying to say though. He seems to think the
server already knows what is spam and what isn't. This just isn't the case.

There are some forum discussions as well.

http://campus.acm.org/forums/ubiquity/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=67

The article also links to the Spam combat page. This is a useful page for
ASRG subscribers who need a bit of background what's doable to trace and
identify spam http://combat.uxn.com/.

Warning: The discussions are of a pretty low quality, compared to what runs
on this list.

I think increasingly we have to assume that messages will be filtered,
whether it is through ORBs at the server level, or at the message level,
like Spam-Assassin. As filter settings get tweaked up, we will be unable to
control/find out whether our legitimate emails have been delivered or not.

Assuming that we live in a landscape where 99% of emails are spam, how do we
identify that our outgoing emails are legitimate? We need a standard way to
signal:

a) Please let this mail through. It is important to me. I have expended X
amount of effort or money, here's the proof.
b) If your filter refused to let this mail through, please notify me so that
I can try another method. This is important to me. I have expended X amount
of effort or money, here's the proof.
c) Please let this mail through, I would like to permit the SMTP server to
publish my IP address on the email so that the recipients filter could
verify that I am not a spammer.

Micropayments made to a charitable organisation could be a worthly goal.
Perhaps, organisations such as Medicines San Frontiers could sign our
messages on a per receiver basis, or issue one-use tickets? This is just so
that we could get our emails through if we are corresponding with a new
party for the first time.

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