Re: [PLUG] Spam Elimination

["Eric J. Roode" <sdn.praised68720@zoemail.net>]

Doug Crompton wrote:

> I am curious what methods others are using to fight spam? I have been
> using SpamAssassin for a few years and I got tired of actually accepting
> this junk rather then rejecting it. I recently set up spam filtering rules
> in sendmail - access.db using spamlist.org, also my own local additions
> and also dnsbl's - abuseat.org and relays.orbs.org and some custom rules I
> found to enhance access.db lookup.
>
> So far I have eliminated (rejected) about 95% of the spam. It is nice to
> watch (less -f /var/log/mail) and see the rejects go by!
>
> My real reason in sending this is to ask if anyone has lists they would
> like to share, especially of domain blocks. I am currrently blocking a lot
> of the world outside of the US and my list is growing!
>
> I also actively send abuse messages to mostly US ISP's that I don't block
> after looking at headers. I am not sure how much good that does but I like
> doing it!
>
> I firmly believe that the way to eliminate this crap is to NOT accept it
> rather then accept it, test it, and then dump it. As long as we accept it
> it will keep coming! I have no problem cutting off domains that spew this
> crap. Of course I am not an ISP so I can get away with that.
For most of my mail needs, I use Zoemail (www.zoemail.net).  It's an
organized way of using massive disposable addresses.  My address is
"sdn@zoemail.net", but if you send to that address, it'll bounce.  When
I send to someone, zoemail generates a random "key", which is appended
to my address, eg "sdn.foobar12345@zoemail.net".  Any mail sent to THAT
address will get through (although I can flip a bit that prevents emal
to that address from anyone but that one sender if I choose).  The
"keys" (addresses) are generally private to one person, and if I start
getting spam on one key, I can tell who that key was originally for
(ergo, who's selling my address), and I can disable that one key.

Some addresses (eg the one for this mailing list) have to be public, and
so are susceptible to spam.  For those, I have a simple filter.  Eg, if
a message is to "sdn.praised68720@zoemail.net" (my PLUG address), if it
doesn't contain "PLUG" in the subject and is not GPG-signed, it gets junked.

The only downside is that zoemail costs money -- $1 per month.  I feel
that that's a reasonable price to pay for getting zero spam.

--
Eric

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