Have you read any of the Spam Wars debate by Computerworld bloggers David A. Milman 1 and Richi Jennings 2? Both make valid points, but the brunt of their focus was on dealing with Inbox contents, which is the last line of defense.
In my opinion, the real problems lie at the head of the matter: the design of the Internet and the message transmission structure, and that little thing called money. The only true way to win the spam wars is to cut off both heads of the beast.
The Internet and email transmission were simply not designed for the massive-scale usage we’ve come to know and expect today. The SMTP protocol might have been secure enough for the handful of secret users back in the day before personal computers were ever dreamt of. But all security measures attempted since that time have only been band-aid solutions. To quote one of my mother’s favorite expressions, ‘It’s like locking the barn door after the horse has already run away.’
And then there’s the issue of money. Spam could well have been just an annoying passing fad if it weren’t such a lucrative business. The spammers themselves are just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a massive seething underbelly to the business that we only get to glimpse now and then, and everyone involved in supporting that structure is apparently reveling in the profits.
<Personal rant warning>:
Nothing gets my blood boiling harder than the arrogant, self-serving attitude of the various spammers who’ve gained public notoriety, who revel in flaunting the proceeds earned by duping untold numbers of gullible people. It’s time to make these guys pay, or more precisely pay back, for their misdeeds. But until that happens, the spam wars will continue.
</End rant>
To truly win the war on spam would involve fighting it on both fronts. Instead of designing security patches that only work temporarily (until spammers find a vulnerability or workaround), we need to begin overhauling the Internet structure, and SMTP in particular. At the same time, we need to make the spread of spam/malware a crime internationally and to uphold the same laws and punishments across the globe.
Do I think either solution is easy or will happen any time soon? I’m certainly not holding my breath!
So I don’t believe we are winning or losing the war: we’re simply putting heavy pressure on the bleeding and hoping like heck that the compress holds.
What’s your take on the state of the ‘spam war’?
References:
Margot, I wholeheartedly agree with your opinionsand also with your personal rants
How about the legal aspect? If proper laws were dictated, and most importantly, applied, wouldn’t that put some pressure on the spammers? Let’s suppose Adam Guerbuez really has to pay up, that is bankrupcy is a dud to evade the ruling.. Wouldn’t that dissuade any spammers from doing the same in Canada?
Obviously, there will always be some countries in the world where the laws don’t apply, but eventually, would the power of the masses (let’s say ‘block all email from country X’) be enough to get us all out of this?
As for SMTP, why is it still around? This protocol should have been deprecated and replaced by something else ages ago (not even mentionning it probably should have never been designed that way). What will it take to make something secure?
Is digital identity a must?