Hi there -- I subscribed to this mailing list for the express purpose of replying to things that have been said on the subject of unsolicited bulk e-mail. Phil Lawlor of AGIS has suggested that a "Caller-ID" type of functionality be built into sendmail. Do I think that is a good idea? In a general sense, it probably is -- accountability is a Good Thing, and a mechanism such as he suggests will probably help situations where mailbombs, Denial of Service attacks, or harrassment have occurred and the perpetrator has to be found. Will it help reduce spam? Absolutely not. People will find ways to "block" the "caller ID", and not everyone uses sendmail as a mail server anyhow. Phil also mentioned that he spent a sizable sum of money on the IEMMC and it ended up going nowhere. That might possibly be because the IEMMC was run, apparently, by Walter Rines. Walter Rines is owner of Quantum Communications, a big spamhaus that was (until recently) hosted by AGIS. I question the wisdom of putting a spammer in charge of an organization that is supposed to reduce spam levels for people who don't want to be spammed. Would you put a convicted murderer in charge of a program designed to rehabilitate criminals? Probably not. Incidentally, Mr. Lawlor, if you really *are* participating in this discussion because you are interested in lowering the level of spam that gets dumped on the Net on a daily basis, I commend you for your change of heart. Those of us who frequent the news.admin.net-abuse newsgroups would be quite proud of you. -- NACS.NET ** Steve Sobol (sjsobol @ nacs.net) *** 216 619-2000, 1-888-273-NACS Tech Support, Programming, Postmaster, DNS dude, Real-Live Human Abuse Auto- Responder & Spam Fighter who is waiting for his Netscum Page. (Where is it, Boursy??) ** http://www.nacs.net ** Net Abuse Hotline: abuse @ nacs.net