Subject: [TAG] UnASKing the spam question

From: Ben Okopnik <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 10:08:11 -0500

Well, after a day of running this ASK challenge-response gadget, I'm
giving up on it. [sigh] Guess I have to keep searching for other
solutions.

Part of the problem is the stuff that's mentioned on Rick's site in the
challenge-response discussion; there are several negative aspects to it,
and although most of them don't apply to my situation, some do. Another
part is that for every blocked spam, I get a "Message frozen: mailbox
unavailable" from Exim - this is *not* an improvement.

Ah well... at least now I know it for myself. There's nothing quite like
diving head-first into a pond to find out if there are rocks beneath the
surface.

* Ben Okopnik * okopnik.freeshell.org * Technical Editor, Linux Gazette *
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From: Rick Moen <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 11:58:46 -0800

> unavailable" from Exim - this is *not* an improvement.

Ah, I'd forgotten I had a mirror of Karsten Self's FAQ on the subject.
I've just fetched a newer copy -- since he tends to refine his essays 
over time -- and notice it now sports (among other things) a Hall of
Shame section at the bottom.  Guess what's its one entry so far?  ;->

   Hall of Shame

   The following are some C-R systems known to behave poorly. Rules for
   matching the challenge messages are included.

   Active Spam Killer (ASK)

   Author: Marco Paganini

   Identifier: Contains the header: "X-AskVersion: 2.2
   (http://www.paganini.net/ask)". A wildcard match on "X-AskVersion"
   should be sufficient.

   Response:: reply w/o modifications.

   Faults: Sends challenges to innocent third-parties as a result of
   spoofed headers

Karsten appears to have substantially improved his essay -- and I've
taken the liberty of adding a set of hyperlinks for further information
at the bottom.

> diving head-first into a pond to find out if there are rocks beneath the

Sorry to hear.

-- 
Cheers,        "Linux means never having to delete your love mail."
Rick Moen                                              -- Don Marti
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