From: Adrian Smith (A.Smith@centenary.usyd.edu.AU)
Date: Mon Mar 10 2003 - 17:44:15 EST
Hi all, After my last post to the list I received the email below from one list member asking me to verify myself with SpamArrest. I believe SpamArrest is a verification service which basically intercepts all email to your account and then checks it against your list of approved addresses. If there is no match the send an email asking for verification. While this might seem like a good idea, especially if you receive a lot of spam, there are some things to consider before you sign up for such a service. I for one will NOT be replying to the request that I verify myself. For one, I don't want 3rd parties filtering or monitoring my email (if I can avoid it). In general, such services also impose a very high load on mailing lists like this - if somone has gone to the trouble of signing up for this list then they should also be able to ensure that they receive mail from the list rather than putting that load onto others. Furthermore, there was also some discussion recently on TidBITS Talk about SpamArrest in particular and it appears they may also be a source of SPAM themselves, i.e. if you verify yourself you may well find that you start receiving spam from SpamArrest offering their services to you. I have copied some of the relevant disucssion below. I'm sorry to the person who want me verify myself but they won't see my original message or this followup (unless they make some changes to their Spam Arrest settings - which of course I can't tell them about because I am blocking from sending them mail!). Adrian ******* REQUEST FOR VERFICIATION... > >X-Spamarrest-noauth: 1 >X-Spamarrest-speedcode: >Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 15:03:33 -0600 > >Susan here, > >I'm protecting myself from receiving junk mail. > > >Just this once, click the link below so I can receive your emails. >You won't have to do this again. > ><http://spamarrest.com/a?195582102:971878>http://spamarrest.com/a?195582102:971878 > > >You are receiving this message in response to your email to Susan, a >Spam Arrest customer. > >Spam Arrest requests that senders verify themselves before their >email is delivered. > >When you click the above link, you will be taken to a page with a >graphic on it. Simply read the word in the graphic, type it into the >form, and you're verified. > >You will only need to do this once per Spam Arrest customer. > >Webmasters help stop spam and make 50%. ><http://spamarrest.com/affl?170806/affiliates/index.jsp>http://spamarrest.com/affiliates > >------------------------------------------------------------ ********** TidBITS Talk Discussion >[This is one of the big problems. After some consideration, we >decided that as a rule, we would not confirm mailings of TidBITS to >people who use services like this. The potential load on us is >simply too high. -Adam] At 4:07 PM -0500 23/2/03, Larry Rosenstein wrote: >At 10:12 AM -0500 2/21/03, Chris Head wrote: >>I don't know if anyone else has tried Spam Arrest >><http://spamarrest.com/>, but I've found their system truly amazing. > >Beware that some people think that Spam Arrest in turn spams people >who send mail to their customers: > ><http://www.politechbot.com/p-04455.html> > >-- >Larry Rosenstein At 4:08 PM -0500 23/2/03, LuKreme wrote: >On Friday, Feb 21, 2003, at 08:12 Canada/Mountain, Chris Head wrote: >>I don't know if anyone else has tried Spam Arrest >><http://spamarrest.com/>, but I've found their system truly amazing. > >You might want to read the terms and conditions carefully. They >specifically say they will continue to monitor your email, EVEN IF >YOU NEVER SIGN UP FOR THEIR PAY SERVICE, unless you complete a >"termination agreement." > >They are also, themselves, spammers. Using spam to advertise their >product to anyone who sends YOU email. So, if I send you an email, >Spam Arrest will send me solicitations for their product. Sorry, >but Spam Arrest goes directly into my bit bucket (which means you >will never see this reply unless Adam posts it because I will not >reply to their "confirmation" since doing so would open my mailbox >to their spam). > >I wouldn't do business with them if you paid me.
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