[hashcash] Re: PR Problem?

  • From: "Eric S. Johansson" <esj@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: hashcash@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 08:59:44 -0500

Todd A. Jacobs wrote:
On Sun, Nov 12, 2006 at 06:15:14PM -0500, Eric S. Johansson wrote:

mailing lists.  New users get stamps for the first message (or two)
then they are white listed and they never get stamps from that point
on.

I'm not sure I see the logic of this behavior.

it wasn't so much intentional as accidental with regards to the mailing list. It was interesting to me how a end user intentional behavior designed to minimize stamp production was also useful in the context of mailing lists.

My point was that a
mailing list that provided stamps for outgoing messages (not requiring
them for posting)--or better yet passing on MUA-minted stamps--might be
a good way to prevent listmail from getting caught up in someone's
filters.

I'm sorry I missed your point. I see what you were talking about. If you have clients that expect naïve sender pays, you would require the mailing list to generate generate a significant amount of stamps. This was the source of another one of the "how dare you expect me to..." responses I've received.

Hybrid techniques of introducer stamp and friends list gets around this problem. If you want a naïve sender pays solution, then I suggest alternatives instead of the list generating stands for adding some sort of loophole for massive parallel double spending (which will only encourage spammers to attack mailing lists)

each member of a mailing list should generate a stamp for each message they wish to receive. The mailing list manager keeps track of this pool of stamps for that user and sends them to the user with each message. If the pool runs low, the mailing list manager sends an alert message suggesting the creation of more stamps. If the pool runs out, the mailing list manager sends messages without stamps. The advantage of this technique is that it puts the load on the end-user where it belongs. It also does not force participation by those offended by the thought of generating stamps.


If you are filtering based on the existence of hashcash headers, you do
*not* want to stop receiving hashcash headers unless your filtering
pipeline is smart enough to handle whitelists. Maybe yours does, but I
think it would be unwise to assume that's the default behavior for most
MDA pipelines.

Maybe that's part of the DNS advertisement. Declare whether or not there is a white list hybrid system at the target site. I have no problem generating stamps for every message. I'll just need to build a zombie network in-house. As if Windows isn't hampered enough :-).

If bogofilter (to pick one example) learns that hashcash headers are a
good indication of ham, a sudden lack of hashcash headers would tend to
make the mails look like spam. Q.E.D.

that's a really good question. Would be presence then absence make a huge difference in a content filter? I wonder if I should make a filter independent white listing daemon to make it easier for people to include friends white listing in applications like bogofilter

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