[vox-tech] Re: What anti-spam techniques do you use?

[Rod Roark]

I believe ordb.org also has an experimental non-open-relay blacklist.

Since you have broadband, operating your own mail server is definitely
a good thing to do (IF you have the time to learn the details).  I'm 
also a happy Postfix user.

You don't even have to buy a domain -- dhs.org has them for free.

-- Rod
   http://www.sunsetsystems.com/

On Tuesday 05 February 2002 01:51 am, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> hi john,
>
> there's not much you can do once the mail is delivered to your
> mailbox.
>
> that means if mail is going to someone else's server, you either
> need them to cooperate with proactive methods or you need to filter
> spam passively and complain retroactively.
>
> since most of my mail comes to dirac.org, i deny access to the smtp
> port by anyone sending mail from a known open relay using ordb.  if
> your mail goes to someone's server, this may not be an option for
> you; you'll have to ask them and hope they're not spam friendly.
>
> in addition, when spam comes from a non open relay, i drop the
> sending IP address into /etc/hosts.deny so they get exactly one
> chance and one chance only to spam me (and i fire off a complaint to
> spamcop to boot). again, if your mail is going to someone else's
> server, this may not be an option for you since you're prolly
> getting email via imap or pop.
>
> although the answer really depends on how you get your mail, it's
> pretty safe to say that if you use imap/pop/.forward, your only
> option is to filter spam based on content and sending location. 
> note the word filter.  meaning, as far as the spammer is concerned,
> his email got through and the spamming attempt was successful.  you
> don't see the spam (if it gets filtered by your procmail rules), but
> he/she doesn't know it.  this is what i mean by "passive spam
> control".
>
> my suggestion is this:
>
> get an account on someone's machine that is spam unfriendly.  let
> them take care of the details like implementing ordb/orbz and
> hosts.deny filtering (there are a few options here, like postfix's
> spam filtering which is functionally equivalent of me dropping IP's
> into hosts.deny).
>
> buy a domain and have your email sent to your broadband enabled
> system directly.  this gives you direct control over who gets to use
> your smtp server
>
> otherwise, you're pretty much relegated to after-the-fact filtering.
>
> pete
>
> ps- most of my spam these days are coming from asia (russia, china,
> hong kong, korea, etc) and east europe.  in particular, hinet.net,
> netvigator.com and ethome.com are the worst offenders.  i can safely
> say that these ISP's (which seem to be major players in the asian
> ISP market) are downright spam friendly.  my complaints are
> completely ignore.  i would say they're responsible for about 30% of
> the spam that i get these days.
>
> cc'd to vox-tech.
>
> begin John C. Alden <jcalden@dcn.davis.ca.us>
>
> > My DCN address is getting pummeled more & more with spam. Now it's
> > about 75% of all the mail I receive. Don't know where they're
> > getting it, but I'm getting TIRED of it, (those steenkin'
> > bastards).
> >
> > What techniques and/or tools do you use for spammers not using a
> > major service (aohell, earthlink, msn) that has an abuse@ address?
> >
> > I even got one spam with subject: UCE: E-mail Advertising Services
> > "We are offering legal, ethical direct bulk e-mail services.  This
> > is for companies who want to send out at least 1 million messages
> > per month."
> >
> > Jeez. A million spams a month. Can't tell if they were nicely
> > attempting to comply with some law (adding "UCE:" prefix), or if
> > they were trying to be cute. Or simply stupid.
> >
> > Anyway, any help would be appreciated.