The Problem With Challenge-Response
August 13th, 2004 by Kelson. Posted in Annoyances, SpamSome people think it’s a great idea to block spam by having their email system automatically reply to any unfamiliar address, forcing the sender to jump through hoops that spammers presumably won’t bother with.
About half an hour ago, the IEEE Communications Society sent out a call for papers on its mailing list.
So far I have gotten three challenge-response requests, two out-of-office notices, and a response to one of the CRs.
I expect to see more when I get back from lunch.
Update 2:30pm: Four more challenges, another vacation autoreply, and four more responses. No sign yet of any discussion, complaints, or even (as I half-expected) a rash of misdirected “unsubscribe me” messages.
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