[alac-forum] Usurping Domain Names
For some time now, I have been receiving notifications of undeliverable
email that did not originate from our server. It seems some SPAM-Mongers
have been using our domain as their return address.
I want to stress that we, a legitimate ".org" are not a commercial
enterprise, and never send commercial email. Any and all commercial email
bearing our domain name, is a forgery. I have even seen in the
undeliverable email transcript, where the sender actually uses our domain
name in the SMTP handshake ... (HELO notaro.org) ... with the ultimate
result that our domain has started to become blacklisted, rendering
legitimate important email undeliverable.
This is no longer a matter of annoying email cluttering your in-box. Name
space is property; we pay money to own it, and to use it without
authorization is stealing ... and we are suffering material damages in the
form of the inusability of our communications infrastructure.
The problem is manifested in two things: First, is the fact that there is
no good way to certify that the sender is who he says he is. The second,
is the practice of blacklisting. The first could be solved by adding
digital signatures to the SMTP protocol, requiring all SMTP Servers to
absolutely identify themselves to each other, and upon email reception,
each server could stamp the message with the sender's true identity, so
that all mail can be traced absolutely back to the actual originator. I
realize that this will involve a massive change to the world internet
infrastructure, but the problem of SPAM has reached a critical condition
where something must be done; And tracing its source will go a long way to
getting this under control.
The second issue, the practice of blacklisting, is a problem because it
only harms the innocent. I realize that these measures are being
undertaken in self defense, but the fact is that when SPAM Mongers get
blacklisted, they just switch domain names ... they do it like you and I
change our clothes ... and they don't even have to go through the trouble
of registering new domain names .... they just use someone else's ... its
easier, cheaper, and it leaves no trail To blacklist a given domain they
are using on Tuesday does nothing to curtail SPAM on Wednesday. All it
really does is harm the victims in the case where the domain has been
usurped. I feel that the practice of blacklisting should be banned because
it is ineffective, and harmful to the legitimate user community.