Passive Spam Revocation (PSR)
Yao Ziyuan 2
Currently almost all mail systems (e.g. Hotmail and Gmail) use a spam
filter, which can drop good and important messages.
I propose an optional feature for current mail systems. The main idea
is if a message is considered spam, this spam status can be tracked by
the sender (but not sent to him directly, as the From field can be
faked). The message can be re-marked as "not spam" if the sender can
solve a CAPTCHA.
STEP 1: A is going to send B a message. A's mail client generates a
random code and puts it in a custom field in the outgoing message's
header:
Code: <random code>
STEP 2: A's mail client sends the message, waits 30 seconds, and then
visits:
https://spamstatus.<B's mail domain>/?msgid=<Message-
ID>&code=<Code>
This page displays one of these possible "spam statuses":
* MESSAGE CONSIDERED SPAM. (A CAPTCHA is also presented below.)
* MESSAGE CONSIDERED NOT SPAM.
* PENDING. PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER.
* All other responses mean B's mail system doesn't support this
feature.
In the first case, A's mail client will report the status and the
CAPTCHA to A. A can choose to solve the CAPTCHA to prove the message
is not spam.
Like the idea? Here is the official Google group for it:
http://groups.google.com/group/passive-spam-revocation
Regards,
Yao Ziyuan
http://sites.google.com/site/yaoziyuan/
Dan
I see two problems If I am reading this correctly.
1. This is a mail client function, and has nothing to do with the
mail server. You could implement this using a thunderbird/outlook
plugin, that sends an automatic reply with a link to a form on your
website. A second functionality would be needed to hide this message
in the mail client, and optionally delete the message if it has not
been verified in x days.
2. What about valid auto-generated messages. Like the postfix mailling
liest.. I don't think Wietse will want to fill out a captcha for
you :)
Your sending an email back to the sender for verification. Most
spammers will not accept the reply, or at least they will not do
anything about it. In that case, why bother with the captcha?
Please take a look a grey-listing. This could achieve pretty much
the same affect without bothering the sender.