SCN: Why so much spam?

[Joe Mabel]

Looks like my question has bsen answered.  Sorry for the out-of-sequence email.

--------------------
Joe Mabel

On Mon, 22 Apr 2002, patrick fisher wrote:

> To clarify: The SCN-related mail lists would be listed. The IP and others who use
> mailing lists would not, by default.
> 
> P
> 
> 
> --- Michael Hanson <michaelh at scn.org> wrote:
> > 
> > Why remove totally.  Certainly listings for the mailing lists of IP's
> > should be optional.  But it is important to publicize the existance of
> > mailing lists that discuss the operation of SCN. 
> > 
> > It is often difficult to find out what is going on in SCN.  If we want to
> > get people to pitch in and help out, we need to make the avenues of
> > communication available so they can find out how to find out what is
> > happening.  (Keeping the discussion lists hidden makes it even harder
> > to get new recruits.)
> > 
> > Perhaps, instead of removing the page totally, we could consider
> > simple obfuscation of the e-mail addresses.  (i.e. no mailto
> > link, write it out in text 
> > The following lists, all at scn.org:
> > policy    - explanation of purpose
> > services  - "            " "
> > 
> > Not quite as convenient for the user, but harvesting addresses from that
> > would be a major AI project. 
> > 
> >   Michael
> > 
> > On Mon, 22 Apr 2002, patrick fisher wrote:
> > 
> > > The default setting should be: Taking down the mailing list pages.
> > > 
> > > Then, if someone wants to advertise their mailing list, they can do it on their
> > web
> > > site. If they don't have a web site and want lots of spam, we can post their
> > mailing
> > > lists on a new mailing lists page.
> > > 
> > > On top of that, the mailing lists page is a very labor-intensive operation.
> > > 
> > > I'm glad this topic came up and I thank JJ for mentioning it.
> > > 
> > > So, if anyone has an issue with the mailing lists page(s) going away, please let
> > me
> > > know and we will accommodate you. But the default setting is to not have mailing
> > > lists posted on SCN.
> > > 
> > > Less work, less spam. Amazing how neatly that works.
> > > 
> > > Patrick
> > > 
> > > 
> > > --- "J. Johnson" <jj at scn.org> wrote:
> > > > A question I seem to be hearing more in recent months is:  "why am I
> > > > getting so much spam?"  Roughly speaking, there are two answers.
> > > > 
> > > > First, spam is being sent directly to various SCN lists because they
> > > > were posted on a web page, and subsequently harvested by spammers.
> > > > There is not much we can do about that now, except fighting spam
> > > > generally.
> > > > 
> > > > The second answer is:  because the systems that constitute the Internet
> > > > still have holes the spammers can exploit to hide their identities.
> > > > And unfortunately, until two days ago SCN was part of the problem:  we
> > > > had a CGI script (FormMail.pl) with a widely known vulnerability,
> > > > which was being used to pump spam into the Internet.  We have disabled
> > > > that script, but it is still available on many other systems.  
> > > > 
> > > > There has been a long running contention in SCN that we should
> > > > maximize services, regardless of cost or consequence, that security
> > > > and other allegedly specious considerations should always yield to
> > > > maximizing services and user friendliness.  Well, one of the
> > > > consequences of slack security is--spam.
> > > > 
> > > > Fortunately, it does not have to be all or nothing.  It is possible to
> > > > provide a reasonable suite of user services without egregious security
> > > > blunders.  However, it does take a lot of work (yikes!), and a certain
> > > > amount of discipline (a quality not heretofore notable here).  And we
> > > > are making progress.  But there is a lot of work to be done, so relief
> > > > from spam is going to take a while.
> > > > 
> > > > === JJ =============================================================
> > > > 
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> 
> =====
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> Seattle Community Network
> http://www.scn.org
> "Powering our communities with technology"
> 
> __________________________________________________
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