From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Dec 20 00:43:23 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 48A7C16A4CE for ; Mon, 20 Dec 2004 00:43:23 +0000 (GMT) Received: from bunrab.catwhisker.org (adsl-63-193-123-122.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net [63.193.123.122]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B8D6C43D58 for ; Mon, 20 Dec 2004 00:43:22 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from david@catwhisker.org) Received: from bunrab.catwhisker.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by bunrab.catwhisker.org (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id iBK0hMoB001583; Sun, 19 Dec 2004 16:43:22 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from david@bunrab.catwhisker.org) Received: (from david@localhost) by bunrab.catwhisker.org (8.13.1/8.13.1/Submit) id iBK0hMOm001582; Sun, 19 Dec 2004 16:43:22 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from david) Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2004 16:43:22 -0800 (PST) From: David Wolfskill Message-Id: <200412200043.iBK0hMOm001582@bunrab.catwhisker.org> To: freebsd-current@sfina.com In-Reply-To: <4955.207.134.49.168.1103502203.squirrel@teby.sfina.com> cc: current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Spam Problems X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: postmaster@freebsd.org List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 00:43:23 -0000 >Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 01:23:23 +0100 (CET) >From: "Yuval Levy" Note: the topic is off-topic for freebsd-current. I am posting back to the list solely to help prevent an onslaught of off=-topic responses. I have provided a hint (Reply-To:) to mail clients that wish to make use of it. -- postmaster >I am not sure if there is awareness of a spam problem with this list. >While spam might be off topic, it is a nuisance to all of us so I allow >myself to post my findings here in the hope that it will help the list >identify and get rid of the problem. If you have concerns about mail issues for FreeBSD.org, please feel free to contact postmaster@freebsd.org. Please do not try to hijack technical mailing lists that are intended for other purposes. The freebsd-curreent@freebsd.org list is one example of such a list where "spam" (per se) is off-topic. >I subscribed to this list with a unique alias (freebsd-current@sfina.com) >that I used for this specific list only. I do this with every mailing list >I subscribe to, so to insulate the spam problem should it arise by >diverting the alias to /dev/null. On my mail server all of the alias in >use are collected into a single mailbox for reading. >Recently I received some spams to freebsd-current@sfina.com. This happened >after I used that alias to post to the list. You do realize, of course, that posts to freebsd-current@ are archived in a publicly-accessible manner by the FreeBSD project, and are also gatewayed to other facilities that are searchable via Web search engines or to USENET newsgroups? >My suspicion is that a spammer is subscribed to this list and uses his >subscription to harvest email addresses. That could be, but it's rather more complicated than necessary to accomplish the foul deed. Recall Occam's Razor. >Whenever a user posts a messages, his email address is published >to all the list in the From header. It does not take much to parse >incoming messages from the list to harvest addresses. Yes.... >Is anybody else aware of this problem? Of course. >Has there been any thought about a possible solution? I'm sure there has. I suggest you consider adjusting your filter so that mail to the list-specific address in question is less likely to be considered spam if it is relayed via mx2.freebsd.org, and considered more likely otherwise. (You might want to consider the message less likely to be spam if it appears to be in reply to a message you wrote, but thta could get complicated.) Now, everyone: please do not continue this discussion on any of the freebsd.org technical mailing lists. If you must continue it on a list, I nominate freebsd-chat. Peace, david (current hat: postmaster@freebsd.org) -- David H. Wolfskill david@catwhisker.org I resent spammers because spam is a DoS attack on my time. See http://www.catwhisker.org/~david/publickey.gpg for public key.