25 July 2005
Spam block has its own ethical issues
A couple of years ago, this column featured the prediction that the junk e-mail problem would be coming under control right about now. So much for clairvoyance.
Instead, between 60 and 70 percent of the world's e-mail is spam. Even a federal anti-spam law and a number of high-profile federal prosecutions haven't put a kink in the hose. With so many junk mail marketers on the loose, locking up a couple here and there makes hardly any difference. Distracted by terrorism, drugs, and organized crime, cops won't hammer the spammers with an all-out nationwide dragnet, the only strategy that might work.
Perhaps technology can save us: more aggressive spam filters, maybe, or new technologies that will identify and block spammers before they can run wild. Many such ideas are making the rounds; why haven't they paid off? In large part, because spam-fighters have spent so much time sparring among themselves.
Just look at the dispute over Sender ID, an e-mail authentication system backed by Microsoft Corp. Most spam contains phony return addresses, making it hard to track the filth back to its lair. Sender ID would add a feature to the e-mail system that would enable it to confirm the true origin of a piece of e-mail, thus making it harder for spammers to hide. It's not a cure-all -- you would still need to block the spam. But that's a lot easier when you've accurately identified the source.
But will Sender ID work? A recent study by a panel of technical experts found that the system has a host of technical problems. That hasn't stopped Microsoft from trying to patent key portions of the technology. This move terrified other firms, who don't want their e-mail put at the mercy of the world's most merciless software company. So some of them have rallied around an alternative authentication system developed by the search company Yahoo Inc.
The Internet Engineering Task Force, which must decide on the best technical solution, is still thinking about it. ''No consensus has yet been reached concerning a single technical approach," the task force said last month, news that no doubt warmed many a spammer's heart.
It's enough to make you feel trapped, desperate, eager to strike back with any tool at hand. So an Israeli entrepreneur's plan to choke spam at its source has a certain spiteful appeal.
''We're looking for people who are willing to stand up for their online rights," said Eran Reshef, founder and chief executive of Blue Security Inc. The company, in Menlo Park Calif., and Herzliya, Israel, has scared up $3 million in venture funding from Benchmark Capital. Now it's rounding up a digital posse to unleash against the companies that torment us.
Instead, between 60 and 70 percent of the world's e-mail is spam. Even a federal anti-spam law and a number of high-profile federal prosecutions haven't put a kink in the hose. With so many junk mail marketers on the loose, locking up a couple here and there makes hardly any difference. Distracted by terrorism, drugs, and organized crime, cops won't hammer the spammers with an all-out nationwide dragnet, the only strategy that might work.
Perhaps technology can save us: more aggressive spam filters, maybe, or new technologies that will identify and block spammers before they can run wild. Many such ideas are making the rounds; why haven't they paid off? In large part, because spam-fighters have spent so much time sparring among themselves.
Just look at the dispute over Sender ID, an e-mail authentication system backed by Microsoft Corp. Most spam contains phony return addresses, making it hard to track the filth back to its lair. Sender ID would add a feature to the e-mail system that would enable it to confirm the true origin of a piece of e-mail, thus making it harder for spammers to hide. It's not a cure-all -- you would still need to block the spam. But that's a lot easier when you've accurately identified the source.
But will Sender ID work? A recent study by a panel of technical experts found that the system has a host of technical problems. That hasn't stopped Microsoft from trying to patent key portions of the technology. This move terrified other firms, who don't want their e-mail put at the mercy of the world's most merciless software company. So some of them have rallied around an alternative authentication system developed by the search company Yahoo Inc.
The Internet Engineering Task Force, which must decide on the best technical solution, is still thinking about it. ''No consensus has yet been reached concerning a single technical approach," the task force said last month, news that no doubt warmed many a spammer's heart.
It's enough to make you feel trapped, desperate, eager to strike back with any tool at hand. So an Israeli entrepreneur's plan to choke spam at its source has a certain spiteful appeal.
''We're looking for people who are willing to stand up for their online rights," said Eran Reshef, founder and chief executive of Blue Security Inc. The company, in Menlo Park Calif., and Herzliya, Israel, has scared up $3 million in venture funding from Benchmark Capital. Now it's rounding up a digital posse to unleash against the companies that torment us.
# posted by vdodon @ 03:03 
