Klarinet Archive - Posting 000624.txt from 2002/04

From: "Mark Charette" <charette@-----.org>
Subj: [kl] Viruses and Spam
Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2002 12:51:06 -0400

I recently got an email from one of the members asking if the list was safe
from viruses and attachments, and if the email addresses were secure. It
seems that all of a sudden, after signing up for Klarinet and a different
list. they were being inundated with viruses & spam.

Welcome to the Internet.

The list itself is pretty secure - no attachments or messages that could be
construed as "rich text" are allowed. The list of email addresses for
members isn't available. But all that means is that the list isn't a good
dissemination tool for this stuff. Which, in the grand scheme of things,
doesn't mean diddly-squat. It only means the list isn't going to infect you.

Every time you send an email to the list, your email address is out there
for everyone to see in the "From:" line. If some Klarinet member has a virus
on their computer, they're probably going to unknowingly send it directly to
you, no list needed. There's nothing I can do to stop that. That's why I ask
everyone on the list repeatedly to install virus protection software. Not
just for _your_ protection, but for _ours_.

Then there's the address harvesting machines for creating email lists. All
the emails sent to Klarinet are stored at the "Klarinet Archives" on
www.woodwind.org. It's a trivial matter (less than 5 minutes) to create a
program that will access every post and strip every email out of there.
There's nothing I can do to stop that, either. I know the addresses are
harvested because I get both spam and viruses sent to the archive mailbox -
and no message has _ever_ been sent with that address; it's a read-only
mailbox for the Klarinet Archives.

Are there ways around this problem? Only indirectly. I know of people who
get the email from one address but post using another so that their
"regular" email address doesn't show and therefore their regular email is
less insecure. Or they use a special address for both sending and receiving
List email.

But remember, all it takes is one email someday send to someone with a virus
and next thing you know you're a target of viruses forever or one time
posting somewhere on some public ally available system and now you're a
target of spam. It's "how it is".

Mark C.

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