On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 06:30:39PM -0500, Exim wrote:
> I just had a client ask for something I haven't done. He wants emails from
> unknown users to be sent back with a "are you human" request they must
> respond to correctly. If they do, then they will be automatically added to
> a list of valid senders.
>
> (and no I don't want to do this, but sometimes you have to do what the
> client demands, rather than what is really best for them).
Yes, you do. But that doesn't stop you from trying to dissuade them!
My argument against it is thus:
Spammers rarely send email with legitimate From: headers - when the
address exists at all, it's almost always that of some poor innocent.
So, when you send the "are you real?" email, you're either annoying
some legitimate email sender (and potentially losing their business) or
you're sending it to someone who has never heard of you. In that latter
case they're likely to say "yes!" just to piss you off and let the spam
through. But more importantly, challenge/response IS SPAM, because it
is unsolicited bulk email. No-one solicits it - your legitimate
correspondents never asked for it, and obviously the poor innocents
you're subjecting to it didn't either. And it's bulk, because it is
sent with substantively the same content to every recipient without
regard for whether the recipient is me or the king of the moon.
--
David Cantrell | Bourgeois reactionary pig
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