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Date:      Wed, 30 Apr 2014 19:31:03 -0500
From:      Matthew Pherigo <hybrid120@gmail.com>
To:        Mike Sanders <tmp1@freebsd.hypermart.net>
Cc:        "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: Respecting Privacy: How To Prevent Spam
Message-ID:  <F4E011AD-941A-413E-A8BD-F5FF35DCA673@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <20140430211105.GA961@taco-shack.cow>
References:  <20140430195924.GA1011@taco-shack.cow> <20140430211105.GA961@taco-shack.cow>

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Hey Mike,

First of all, it should be noted that the prevalence of spam on this mailing=
 list is not because the configuration of this list is insecure, but because=
 using email in mailing lists has always been an easy way to harvest email a=
ddresses, and spammers have only now caught on.

The first option for somebody to be secure in a mailing list would be to use=
 an email account only used for public mailing lists. But, let's be fair, no=
body is going to do that.

The second option is to do as you suggest and anonymize the list addresses w=
ith only one mailing list address. Not considering the fact that this makes f=
iguring out who the message is from much harder, this also causes a problem w=
hen time comes to have a conversation OFF of the list. If two posters want t=
o speak to each other off of the main mailing list, they have a problem: the=
y have to exchange email addresses OVER the mailing list. This leaves you wi=
th two options: either exchange email addresses in public (defeating the poi=
nt of anonymization), or use email messages back-and-forth to execute a piec=
e of key-exchange cryptography to exchange email addresses without making th=
em public. If you ever find yourself doing that last part, you know you're p=
robably doing something wrong.

I think the problem is less about "is this mailing list secure" and more abo=
ut "is email suited for this kind of use", to which I would say "no, not rea=
lly, but the community here is totally worth using email for the wrong purpo=
se." When you get the spam messages, flag them as spam with whatever email p=
rovider you use. Since they're not being sent through the list and are inste=
ad coming from their own domains, flagging them as spam will cause your emai=
l provider's junk filter to pick up on those messages in the future and not a=
llow any more of them to pass through.

--Matt

> On Apr 30, 2014, at 4:11 PM, Mike Sanders <tmp1@freebsd.hypermart.net> wro=
te:
>=20
> Mike Sanders wrote:
>=20
>> <http://staff.imsa.edu/~ckolar/mailman/mailman-administration-v2.html>;
>>=20
>> Under section 'Spam-specific posting filters':
>>=20
>> Value: Hide the sender of a message, replacing it with the list address
>> (Removes From, Sender and Reply-To fields)
>>=20
>> Description: This tells Mailman to rewrite the header so that traffic
>> appears to be coming from the list itself instead of the original poster.=

>> Provides some added privacy for posters, but may be annoying to some list=

>> members as mailbox headers show only the list name instead of the
>> actual poster.
>=20
> Okay enough...
>=20
> Because I spoke out about this, spammers are attacking my inbox
> with malformed email, attachments, etc. Don't know if these messages
> are turning up on the list, but someone is replying to my list messages
> with email such as:
>=20
> 'Would you like to meet? I'll let you lick my twat'
>=20
> If this list ever becomes secure look me up, I'd love to learn from you gu=
ys.
>=20
> I'm out.
>=20
> --=20
> Mike Sanders
> www: http://freebsd.hypermart.net
> gpg: 0xD94D4C13
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.or=
g"



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