[Coco] Re: CoCo List/Newsgroup Information

[John E. Malmberg]

Stephen H. Fischer wrote:

> How about a diagram showing the interconnections of the mailing list and the
> filters applied as messages pass between them.
> 
> Oh never mind, that would require graphics and HTML which is forbidden on
> this list.

Actually nothing has been posted by Dennis about that either way.
As list owner and moderator, it is his call.

My personal preference is to put those on a web page and post a link.  I 
have set MOZILLA to not display either HTML or any embedded images.


But it might be good if Dennis could add two dashes and a space on the 
line before the footer that the mailing list adds on.

That way many e-mail and news programs will automatically trim it on 
replies, so we do not end up with multiple trailers after a thread of posts.


> In place of just ignoring, how about a reply indicating where they can post
> CoCo questions and thus gain membership by showing their CoCo knowledge.

The problem is that the type of mini-attack going on is that the 
responses would either be going to black-hole e-mail addresses or even 
worse some innocent victim's address.

The only way to get an auto response to them is if the mail server can 
issue a SMTP 5XX reject code with the explanation.  After the mail 
server completes the SMTP transaction it is too late.

The anonymous remailers typically are one-way, they do not accept responses.

So there is no point in accepting subscriptions from them, or sending
anything else to those addresses.


And anonymous remailers are traceable, but the problem is that unless 
you are trying to track stolen nuclear material, or something that 
serious, it costs too much to do it.  And you usually have to get 
international cooperation.

When you trace the anonymous remailer, you end up with either another 
anonymous remailer, a web form, or an internet cafe, with infinite 
combinations.  E-mail and news are store and forward, so by the time you 
track all the links back, if the sender has any brains at all, they are 
gone, and will never be back to that original source.

And in many cases the messages were probably relayed by non-email means 
before they were put into the internet e-mail.

So even if the anonymous remailer turned over their logs on demand, it 
is too late to trace.  Unless the person is dumb enough to have 
orginally sent the message from a machine that is registered to them.


But the anonymous remailers will either take action on abuse complaints, 
or they would end up being abused so much that no one would accept their 
e-mail, or they would not be able to pay their bandwidth bills.


-John
wb8tyw at qsl.net
Personal Opinion Only