Messages in this thread | | | Date | Thu, 29 May 1997 17:10:35 +1000 | From | Richard Gooch <> | Subject | Re: New UseNet Gateway under construction |
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David S. Miller writes: > Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 08:02:53 -0700 (PDT) > From: Christoph Lameter <clameter@waterf.org> > > Spammers can also look at the archives of the linux mailing lists > which are found in a lot of places. I cannot see any difference > between a archive and my gating the stuff into usenet. > > There is a huge difference, a spammer can more easily acquire tons of > addresses anonymously without having to go through subscribing to > various mailing lists, they just need a news feed. Essentially Usenet > does their work for them, this is why I hate it so much. > > A spammer needs to go through some external amount of effort to grab > things off of a mailing list archive site (be it web based or > whatever), but with usenet it requires no effort, they just get it, > and since this is the easiest mechanism it is the one they are most > likely to use.
I agree completely. It really amuses me how so often one hears the argument "A and B are both theoretically possible, so A is just as easy to do as B, so there is no point doing B if you don't do A as well". Rubbish! A spammer has to do *more work* to grab archived mailing lists than to suck news from a feed and gather email addresses. Yes, both are possible, but one is easier. No system is perfect, but making life even marginally harder for the spammer is worthwhile. After, these parasites are running commercial organisations. If you make it harder for them, their overheads increase. As their overheads increase, their prices to their customers increase. With luck, if you make it sufficiently hard for spammers to operate, they become less competitive and hence their customers will be less inclined to use spammers than conventional advertising. Without effective international laws which prohibit spamming, the only answer is economic warfare: make it more expensive for them to "get at you". Make them less competitive. Every little bit counts.
Regards,
Richard....
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