Comment Re:Human-oriented tasks as a way to fight spam. (Score 1) 312
so then you are doing this when the MTA on the clients machine or the server receives it which bounces it back and asks for the user to verify that they are human?
I take it this test would be automated?
What about mailing lists, automated password mailouts (used by places like slashdot when registering or users have lost passwords)?
Then there is also the fact that the spam will bounce (most often) to a non valid adress, or one which actually exists but is not of the spammers.
and re the kid not being free; I had a couple of spare hours so I wrote a small app which simulates mass mailouts, and the addresses mta would send back an authentication (another email which you reply with the word in the email as the subject), with a well designed app, I could do (on average) 12 a minute, and a know tonnes of kids (not necisarily of _legal_ age to work, who's parents and who themselves would be happy to work for $5 an hour (AUD). All my app did was with every incoming mail (an auth email) it would automaticaly display it in a 2 pain window with the bottom being the message body, and the top being the reply. When that window closed (sending) another would be behind it for authentication etc) As the questions would be simple, they would take less time to write the answers than copying the text.
And finaly, one point I did not make: I think that authing people would be the death of email - people like the fact they can click the send button and go onto the next email - if they have to undertake some form of authentication then they will just not bother.
I take it this test would be automated?
What about mailing lists, automated password mailouts (used by places like slashdot when registering or users have lost passwords)?
Then there is also the fact that the spam will bounce (most often) to a non valid adress, or one which actually exists but is not of the spammers.
and re the kid not being free; I had a couple of spare hours so I wrote a small app which simulates mass mailouts, and the addresses mta would send back an authentication (another email which you reply with the word in the email as the subject), with a well designed app, I could do (on average) 12 a minute, and a know tonnes of kids (not necisarily of _legal_ age to work, who's parents and who themselves would be happy to work for $5 an hour (AUD). All my app did was with every incoming mail (an auth email) it would automaticaly display it in a 2 pain window with the bottom being the message body, and the top being the reply. When that window closed (sending) another would be behind it for authentication etc) As the questions would be simple, they would take less time to write the answers than copying the text.
And finaly, one point I did not make: I think that authing people would be the death of email - people like the fact they can click the send button and go onto the next email - if they have to undertake some form of authentication then they will just not bother.
