TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Getting Serious About the War on Spam

Re: Getting Serious About the War on Spam

Steve Sobol (sjsobol@JustThe.net)
Fri, 22 Apr 2005 00:35:11 -0700

Fred Goldstein wrote:

> I hate to discourage you, but as somebody who has been on the Internet
> even longer than you

and me -- I've "only" been around since 1989 :)

> Jon [Postel] died suddenly, and Melvin Dummar found a will in his
> name, giving control of the name and address space to a Washington
> lawyer named Sims, who created ICANN out of whole cloth, appointing
> a board.

This doesn't sound right. Didn't ICANN exist a few years before
Postel's passing?

> What can they do about spam? Frankly, nothing. They control TLDs.
> That gives them some leverage against the registries and registrars,
> who are supposed to follow some rules, but if a registrant pays his
> $8 or whatever and buys a domain from some registrar, then he can
> use it for spam until the registrar pulls it. Since registering is
> automated, there's no real threat against spammers.

ICANN could probably craft better rules and enforce them. (IMHO)

> Even the address-space threat is not helpful; spammers are often
> able to find vacant number blocks and sneak them onto networks long
> enough to do their damage.

Which is the fault of the ISPs

> his UUNET was the top ISP, its reputation was good, and Vint Cerf (the
> Chauncey Gardiner of the Internet, famous for being there) was his
> sexy spokesmodel.

Eeyew, you called Vint Cerf sexy.

> such misbehavior was not tolerated. The appropriate response is
> technological. Yes, laws help too;

Again IMHO, the ultimate solution has to be a combination of legal,
technical and social ...

> price in the fractional-penny range on "stranger emails", enough to
> discourage spam but not normal use. While John Levine hates it (and I
> respect his opinion), I still haven't seen any ideas I think are
> better.

It won't work.

JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638)
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED

"The wisdom of a fool won't set you free"
--New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle"

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