The title says it all. The practice of programming spam filters in POP servers to take email that is classified as junk spam and to "return" it back to the supposed sending email address is incredibly stupid.
Have you ever gotten junk emails "returned" to you that you never sent in the first place? I get them all the time. My web sites have email contact addresses that get used in spammer emailings. The spammers do not use my pop server. They use other pop servers and just put one of my email addresses as a return address. Actually, they usually do not even do that. They use the @futurepundit.com domain and put some string in front of that domain to create what looks like an email address. Then they send out spam with a fake return address that uses a known legal registered domain.
Oh the irony. The spam filter POP servers that bounce the spammer emails are themselves generating spam by bouncing the spam messages back to email addresses that do not exist. My pop server routes those spams to my default email address and I get dozens or even hundreds of bounced emails on some days.
POP server administrators and spam filtering software developers should not configure filtering software to bounce spam. They should just delete it and stop contributing to the problem.
Posted by Randall Parker at October 17, 2006 07:01 PMHow much of a techie are you?
This post of yours is based on a completley uniformed and improper understanding of the process you describe.
Firstly POP servers are NOT used to receive or send email they are used to provide access to an email storage system. SMTP (Simple Message Transport Protocol) is used to both send and recieve messages from and to an email storage system (possibly a POP server, possibly IMAP or maybe Lotus Notes or Exchange)
Spammers do use your and other peoples domains as a way to send seemingly legitimate emails with SPAM content. The primary reason YOU get these replies, that you say are sent from a recievers ANTI-SPAM filter, which is far from the truth, is that they are sent to an unkown recipients address (you say "They use the @futurepundit.com domain and put some string in front of that domain"). I.e the replying SMTP server messages are intended to inform the sender that the address is incorrect and is normal function for SMTP servers.
Usually the administrator of the targetted domain, "futurepundit.com" in your case receive these messages often in large batches that may be sustained for a few days or even a week or a month. Often the level dies off and then happens again later.
All owners of domains who see this response should use what is known as an SPF record in their domains DNS configuration to define the SMTP servers from which you legitimately send email from. Then you will have less replies over time. Eventually if all domains owners whee to do this AND maintain them correctly then all spam could be mitigated.
Search google for "Sender Policy Framework" for more information. Vist http://www.openspf.org/
And do some research on issues before you PROCLAIM things under a TECHIEPUNDIT title that implies you have knowledge on what you say.
ROD DINES - IT Consultant and Internet Messaging Expert