IBM to offer service to bounce unwanted e-mail back to the

Susan Zeigler susan at arcana.manske.net
Wed Mar 23 22:38:54 UTC 2005


Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. wrote:
> 
> 
> On Mar 23, 2005, at 12:37 PM, RSK wrote:
> 
>> On Tue, Mar 22, 2005 at 10:24:37AM -0800, Andreas Ott wrote:
>>
>>> http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/22/technology/ibm_spam/
>>
>>
>> If this write-up is accurate,
> 
> 
> It's not. From the http://www.aunty-spam.com website:
> 
> IBM Not Spamming Spammers! FairUCE is About Fair Use, Not Abuse!
> 
> Did you hear? IBM is spamming spammers! It’s all over the Internet, and  
> tongues are a’wagging! Except, it ain’t so. IBM is not spamming  spammers.
> 
> 
>  Whether you think that spamming spammers is right or wrong, IBM ain’t  
> doing it, and shame on CNN for getting it so wrong, and making IBM look  
> so irresponsible, and in league with the likes of Lycos’ “Make Love Not  
> Spam” DOSsing Screensaver program, and the notorious Mugu Maurauder  
> bandwidth sucking program.
> 
> You can’t really blame the folks who read CNN’s horribly wrong piece  
> for spreading the rumour, after all it was quite sensationalist:
> 
> “Spamming spammers?
> IBM to offer service to bounce unwanted e-mail back to the computers  
> that sent them.
>  March 22, 2005: 12:22 PM EST
> 
>  NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - IBM unveiled a service Tuesday that sends  
> unwanted e-mails back to the spammers who sent them.
> 
> The new IBM (Research) service, known as FairUCE, essentially uses a  
> giant database to identify computers that are sending spam. E-mails  
> coming from a computer on the spam database are sent directly back to  
> the computer, not just the e-mail account, that sent them.”
> 
>  Wrong, wrong, wrong.
> 
> About the only thing which the article got right is that the program is  
> called “FairUCE". FairUCE, according to IBM’s own FairUCE website,  
> readily available for anyone to read (cough…CNN reporters..cough), is a  
> “spam filter that stops spam by verifying sender identity instead of  
> filtering content".
> 
> Let’s say that again: FairUCE is a spam filter that stops spam by  
> verifying sender identity instead of filtering content.
> 
> If FairUCE can’t verify sender identity, then it goes into  
> challenge-response mode, sending a challenge email to the sender, to  
> which the sender must reply, to demonstrate that it is not a spambot  
> sending the mail in question, but a real live person.
> 
> Here is IBM’s explanation of how the FairUCE system works:
> 
> “Technically, FairUCE tries to find a relationship between the envelope  
> sender’s domain and the IP address of the client delivering the mail,  
> using a series of cached DNS look-ups. For the vast majority of  
> legitimate mail, from AOL to mailing lists to vanity domains, this is a  
> snap. If such a relationship cannot be found, FairUCE attempts to find  
> one by sending a user-customizable challenge/response. This alone  
> catches 80% of UCE and very rarely challenges legitimate mail.”
> 
>  Now, being kind, it’s possible that the good folks at CNN mistook the  
> sending of the challenge for “spamming the spammer"....
> 
> (Rest at  
> http://www.aunty-spam.com/ibm-not-spamming-spammers-fairuce-is-about- 
> fair-use-not-abuse/)
> 
> Anne
> 
> 
> 

While I wholeheartedly agree with much of the Aunty-Spam article, I also 
have to note that it appears the original erroneous claim was made by an 
IBM spokeperson. In the CNN/Money article, the following appears:

"IBM has previously offered anti-spam filter technology, but this is the 
first time the company has developed technology to "send spam back to 
the spammer," according to IBM spokeswoman Kelli Gail. IBM is not 
concerned about liability, even in cases where innocent senders might be 
misidentified as spammers, because all the technology does is bounce 
back the e-mails, said Gail."

That paragraph seems to be the basis for the entire articles claim--and 
attributes the "sending back to the spammer" idea to IBM. Perhaps we 
should expand the "Just one more example of why people who are not 
technically knowledgable should not, you know, report on technology." 
statement to include technology company's non-technology-literate 
marketing people;)


-- 

--
-Susan
--
Susan Zeigler             |      Phairos Technologies
susan at phairos.com         |      515.965.5338


"I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands
  of fools. Let's start with typewriters."
                                           -- Frank Lloyd Wright





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