Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 22:18:03 -0500 From: Deepak Jain <deepak@ai.net> To: nanog@merit.edu Subject: Spam with no purpose?

Can someone explain to me (publicly or privately) why someone would send spam with no product to sell, no position to pitch, nothing except text designed to get by a spam filter -- without even HTML to KNOW it got by a spam filter..

It is a probe to verify the address. since it did not bounce, the address is verified. Some spam filters filter out empty messages. The words avoid this. Regards, Gregory Hicks

For example:

From: Joe Legitimate <jlegit@university.edu> To: Deepak Jain <deepak@ai.net> Subject: [dictionary word]

[dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary

word]

[dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word] [dictionary word]

--- EOM ---

I don't understand why one would waste the time, if its a test, why would it get out in public?

I would like to think I am being naive, but I just don't see the upside unless it were particularly targeted at me or my mailserver to determine our response or response time, etc.

Thanks in advance,

DJ

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Gregory Hicks | Principal Systems Engineer Cadence Design Systems | Direct: 408.576.3609 555 River Oaks Pkwy M/S 6B1 | Fax: 408.894.3479 San Jose, CA 95134 | Internet: ghicks@cadence.com I am perfectly capable of learning from my mistakes. I will surely learn a great deal today. "A democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding on what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the results of the decision." - Benjamin Franklin "The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed." --Alexander Hamilton