spambayes rocks

[Skip Montanaro]

    Donn> We hard core computer users can all put in totally effective spam
    Donn> filters, and there will still be millions getting the stuff.  

If I understand recent history correctly, the reason spammers test their
spam against SpamAssassin is that it and tools like it are used by ISPs at
their borders in sufficient numbers to filter out unwanted stuff.  It's
clearly an effective enough block to delivery of the spammers' messages that
they felt its effect enough to use it.  Spambayes and other tools which have
arisen since Paul Graham published his original missive just aren't mature
enough yet to have been adopted by enough of the community to make a
difference.

Mozilla and SpamAssassin have incorporated the Spambayes algorithms into
their probabilstic filter components.  MS has something similar in place for
their MSN users.  I think they use Brightmail for the Hotmail service.  Who
knows what AOL uses, but I doubt they've turned a blind eye to everything
that's has been happening.

    Donn> A real solution means going after these people and their support,
    Donn> and shut them down.

Sure, if technology doesn't do the trick (either because it's ineffective or
not widely enough adopted), turn the dogs^H^H^H^Hlawyers loose on them.
That is already happening.  I imagine Congress will get involved at some
point.  With the international flavor to the systems machinery, it's not
clear how much good one country's legislature (even the US's) can do.

    Milan> In a longer term, we have to find much more efficient combat
    Milan> methods against spammers.

    Skip> I assume by "efficient" you mean closer to 100% accuracy.

    Donn> Or maybe he literally meant efficient.  The efficient place to
    Donn> stop the flow is not at the destination.

For that to happen, you will need the cooperation of the involved foreign
ISPs, largely in Asia and Brazil, I think.  You can go after the stateside
spammers, but if they are really making money, they will just move offshore.
In addition, note that one of the speakers at the spam conference said that
much of the porn spam is being sent out by kids (at the behest of the
spammers).  As long as there are people - kids or otherwise - dumb enough to
do the dirty work and the spammers themselves can stay beyond the reach of
the law, it's just a whack-a-mole game at the front-end.  The only
non-moving targets you have are the ISP's gateways.

Skip