From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.emacs.gnus.general/45382 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Stainless Steel Rat Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.gnus.general Subject: Re: [ANNOUNCE] contrib/hashcash.el spam fighter Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2002 22:15:03 -0400 Organization: The Happy Fun Ball Brigade Sender: owner-ding@hpc.uh.edu Message-ID: References: <02Jun24.115740edt.119250@gateway.intersystems.com> <02Jun24.151839edt.119751@gateway.intersystems.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: localhost.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1024971365 25686 127.0.0.1 (25 Jun 2002 02:16:05 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 02:16:05 +0000 (UTC) Return-path: Original-Received: from malifon.math.uh.edu ([129.7.128.13]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1 (Debian)) id 17MfsD-0006gB-00 for ; Tue, 25 Jun 2002 04:16:05 +0200 Original-Received: from sina.hpc.uh.edu ([129.7.128.10] ident=lists) by malifon.math.uh.edu with esmtp (Exim 3.20 #1) id 17MfrV-0007pC-00; Mon, 24 Jun 2002 21:15:21 -0500 Original-Received: by sina.hpc.uh.edu (TLB v0.09a (1.20 tibbs 1996/10/09 22:03:07)); Mon, 24 Jun 2002 21:15:40 -0500 (CDT) Original-Received: from sclp3.sclp.com (qmailr@sclp3.sclp.com [209.196.61.66]) by sina.hpc.uh.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id VAA21775 for ; Mon, 24 Jun 2002 21:15:29 -0500 (CDT) Original-Received: (qmail 27503 invoked by alias); 25 Jun 2002 02:15:04 -0000 Original-Received: (qmail 27498 invoked from network); 25 Jun 2002 02:15:04 -0000 Original-Received: from h0060978d8c91.ne.client2.attbi.com (HELO peorth.gweep.net) (fddopn@24.218.202.161) by gnus.org with SMTP; 25 Jun 2002 02:15:04 -0000 Original-Received: (from ratinox@localhost) by peorth.gweep.net (8.11.6/8.11.6) id g5P2F3s03916; Mon, 24 Jun 2002 22:15:03 -0400 Original-To: "(ding)" X-Attribution: Rat In-Reply-To: (Simon Josefsson's message of "Mon, 24 Jun 2002 23:14:30 +0200") Original-Lines: 21 User-Agent: Gnus/5.090006 (Oort Gnus v0.06) XEmacs/21.1 (Cuyahoga Valley, i686-pc-linux) Precedence: list X-Majordomo: 1.94.jlt7 Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.gnus.general:45382 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.gnus.general:45382 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 \ 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.