Re: [ANNOUNCE] contrib/hashcash.el spam fighter

[Stainless Steel Rat <ratinox@peorth.gweep.net>]

Wait.  I see how it is supposed to work.  And I was right: it is useless as
a general purpose spam fighting tool, but for different reasons than I had
previously thought.

X-Hashcash is intended for sending mail to big mail-to-news gateways,
mailing list, and such.  It requires that the recipient -- the gateway or
list -- publish a challenge phrase and number of collisions bits that are
required for sending messages through it.  These published challenges take
the place of the randomly generated numbers -- session keys -- that MTA
hashcash uses.

The system is not so useful for end users simply because many (most?) have
no means of publishing challenges or informing legitimate senders that they
even exist.  The whole thing falls apart if recipients cannot challenge
senders.

-- 
Rat <ratinox@peorth.gweep.net>    \ Do not use Happy Fun Ball on concrete.
Minion of Nathan - Nathan says Hi! \ 
PGP Key: at a key server near you!  \ 
       That and five bucks will get you a small coffee at Starbucks.