We've been hit by the spammers, please have mercy

Wed May 7 06:15:48 UTC 1997

I'm posing this question on this list as it is about policies and routing at the NAP level (and is not asking if it is technically possible).

With providers such as AGIS who refuse to address the issue (spam) with their customers it is clear that leaving it up to the provider to squelch spamming doesn't always work.  

I just read an article about bulk mailing where Cyberpromo has tools and access to allow sending approx. 100 messages per second with spoofing etc. so we know that the bulk mailers are continuing to work on new and better tools for their "service".  

Routing by TCP domain or host doesn't work because the spammers hijack other sites sendmail resulting in constantly changing source hops, plus the spammers spoof sender domain IDs in the mail headers.  The IP addresses change less frequently and would seem a little more difficult to fake.  

During the NSF days there were acceptable use policies that governed activities that were considered inappropriate to NSF and which could result in denial of access across their wires.  

Since that seemed to hold up over the years, would it be possible (or legal) for the NAPs etc. to have similar policies about SPAM which could result in traffic from non-compliant sites not being routed?  

-
James Wilson (NetSurfer)
http://www.pixi.com/~netsurf/
http://www.sersol.com/