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Re: IBM to offer service to bounce unwanted e-mail back to the

  • From: Henry Linneweh
  • Date: Wed Mar 23 23:45:50 2005

This software is free at
http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/fairuce

-henry




--- "Anne P. Mitchell, Esq." <[email protected]>
wrote:
> 
> 
> On Mar 23, 2005, at 12:37 PM, RSK wrote:
> 
> > On Tue, Mar 22, 2005 at 10:24:37AM -0800, Andreas
> Ott wrote:
> >>
> http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/22/technology/ibm_spam/
> >
> > If this write-up is accurate,
> 
> It's not. From the http://www.aunty-spam.com
> website:
> 
> IBM Not Spamming Spammers! FairUCE is About Fair
> Use, Not Abuse!
> 
> Did you hear? IBM is spamming spammers! It�s all
> over the Internet, and  
> tongues are a�wagging! Except, it ain�t so. IBM is
> not spamming  
> spammers.
> 
> 
>   Whether you think that spamming spammers is right
> or wrong, IBM ain�t  
> doing it, and shame on CNN for getting it so wrong,
> and making IBM look  
> so irresponsible, and in league with the likes of
> Lycos� �Make Love Not  
> Spam� DOSsing Screensaver program, and the notorious
> Mugu Maurauder  
> bandwidth sucking program.
> 
> You can�t really blame the folks who read CNN�s
> horribly wrong piece  
> for spreading the rumour, after all it was quite
> sensationalist:
> 
> �Spamming spammers?
> IBM to offer service to bounce unwanted e-mail back
> to the computers  
> that sent them.
>   March 22, 2005: 12:22 PM EST
> 
>   NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - IBM unveiled a service
> Tuesday that sends  
> unwanted e-mails back to the spammers who sent them.
> 
> The new IBM (Research) service, known as FairUCE,
> essentially uses a  
> giant database to identify computers that are
> sending spam. E-mails  
> coming from a computer on the spam database are sent
> directly back to  
> the computer, not just the e-mail account, that sent
> them.�
> 
>   Wrong, wrong, wrong.
> 
> About the only thing which the article got right is
> that the program is  
> called �FairUCE". FairUCE, according to IBM�s own
> FairUCE website,  
> readily available for anyone to read (cough�CNN
> reporters..cough), is a  
> �spam filter that stops spam by verifying sender
> identity instead of  
> filtering content".
> 
> Let�s say that again: FairUCE is a spam filter that
> stops spam by  
> verifying sender identity instead of filtering
> content.
> 
> If FairUCE can�t verify sender identity, then it
> goes into  
> challenge-response mode, sending a challenge email
> to the sender, to  
> which the sender must reply, to demonstrate that it
> is not a spambot  
> sending the mail in question, but a real live
> person.
> 
> Here is IBM�s explanation of how the FairUCE system
> works:
> 
> �Technically, FairUCE tries to find a relationship
> between the envelope  
> sender�s domain and the IP address of the client
> delivering the mail,  
> using a series of cached DNS look-ups. For the vast
> majority of  
> legitimate mail, from AOL to mailing lists to vanity
> domains, this is a  
> snap. If such a relationship cannot be found,
> FairUCE attempts to find  
> one by sending a user-customizable
> challenge/response. This alone  
> catches 80% of UCE and very rarely challenges
> legitimate mail.�
> 
>   Now, being kind, it�s possible that the good folks
> at CNN mistook the  
> sending of the challenge for �spamming the
> spammer"....
> 
> (Rest at  
>
http://www.aunty-spam.com/ibm-not-spamming-spammers-fairuce-is-about-
> 
> fair-use-not-abuse/)
> 
> Anne
> 
> 
> 
>