From The N.A.N-A.E Archives

What is The Pandora Project?

NOW are we ready to open it up?Pandora is a freeware bulk emailer with an encrypted address list. It is locked so that it will only send bulk email to people who have sent you bulk email, but it sends your bulk email to every known email address at the company that sent you bulk email, until each address emails you a properly-formatted Remove request, at which point it automatically removes that address (and only that address) from your next mailing.

Database?

Part of the Project will be a compiled database of as many mainstream corporate email addresses as are available. It will only be distributed under NDA with agreement to never use it for anything other than Murkowski-legal email via Pandora. I don't want anyone sneaking in and using it for spam, and if some fool *does* get in under the radar, I want to have evidence to hand over to the prosecution. Pandora carries a big stick, but wears a white hat. That having been said, it might be interesting to contemplate distributing Remove addresses of intransigent spammers who persist in sending their traffic to Pandora users.

What's The Effect of Pandora?

You can imagine the effect on bulk-emailers' mail servers (and the Internet in general) if each bulk emailing is replied-to by a million Pandora users sending an Exciting Opportunity email ("For Sale: 100% organic cat-produced fertilizer!") to every address in the offending company, once every half-hour, until a remove request is received by each Pandora user. Clearly the Pandora users will need bulk-friendly ISPs, but MCI, sprintlink, and Netcom have historically allowed bulk, to say nothing of the 10000 free AOL disks that everybody is using as coasters now.

What Makes It Work?

The Pandora concept requires a grassroots movement to make it effective, not a few heavy hitters. My attitude used to be "yeah, go ahead, do what you want", but I think I'd get behind and participate in the Pandora concept now. I never thought it would come to that, but spam from real companies is becoming more common than I thought it would.

Cabal Network SecurityYou know, the fact that the Fearless Sooper Sekrit Cabal Agent Agency is such a CAREFUL and THOROUGH organization (except when it comes to spelling), if we instituted Pandora, we would certainly require PGP-signed remove requests, to make sure that nobody was spoofing their address, and unsubscribing them from our intersting and informative messages.

Does It Comply With The Murkowski Law?

Yes, Pandora will exhibit *scrupulous* compliance with the law as written. Remember, one of Pandora's main points is to demonstrate the unique characteristics of the Murkowski law. It can *only* do this by following the law to the letter.

Senator Frank Murkowski, R-AlaskaBTW, why limit yourself to daily offerings, when the law makes no such limit? I've observed a lot of people seem to think that they can only send you one spam and then wait for a remove request. In reality, I suspect we can expect -- especially from the chickenboners -- a shift in how it's done. Since they will have to stop sending once they receive a Remove Request (setting aside for now the idiocy of not requiring them to ack receipt), and since there is no limit as to how *many* boli they can spew *before* receiving a R-R, and... since they can reasonably expect to receive *lots* of R-Rs, what can we expect?

We can expect them to send *massive* "MIRV"-type spams. We should not be surprised to see several spams sent out to *each* address at the same time. Or more than "several".

Does Legal Mean Mandatory?

Just the fact that the law will prohibit certain forms of bulk E-mail does not mean, in any way, that ISPs will be forced to allow customers to send non-prohibited bulk E-mail. There's nothing in the law that would stop ISPs from terminating anyone who would do such a thing. Each state in the Union recognizes the right of a company to conduct its business in whatever way it sees fit. If the ISP chooses to prohibit their customers from sending bulk E-mail, it will be able to do so. The only activities an ISP, or any company, cannot prohibit are the ones enumerated in the Constitution (that's what that document is all about, really). Until bulk E-mail is an enumerated constitutional right, any ISP may prohibit any and all of its customers from doing it.

Regarding enumerated rights in the Constitution, I don't really believe that is even close to necessary in order to enforce a law. The Murkowski law, once passed, makes spam expressly legal. The only "out" for an ISP that it provides is on the *receiving* end. Remember, the bill was written to be entirely pro-spam. All the protections, both express and implicit, accrue to the benefit of the sender. All ambiguities for some odd reason also benefit the sender. Regardless, any ISP with a grain of brain will recognize what's going on, and support Pandora while fighting spam. There is *no* contradiction.

Is Pandora Active Now?

Pandora is for such a time as the Federal Government deigns to impose upon systems administrators that any and all email must be accepted. At which time, the government will have declared that such email is not abuse. Therefore, neither Pandora, nor your email bombs, will be considered abusive, and you and Pandora will both fire away. Until such time, both Pandora, and email bombing someone that you _think_ might be the spammer, are definitely abusive.

What Do ISPs Think of Pandora?

Well, so far I've only discussed The Project with one ISP. I spoke with the owner. He is vehemently anti-spam. He also is an enthusiastic Pandora booster. I suspect he will not prove to be unique, once the facts are widely distributed.

Is There An Alternate Technique?

However, having said that, I don't see why any ISP would prohibit:

  1. Taking a copy of every spam that you receive.
  2. Hitting 'REPLY'.
  3. Typing "REMOVE - please acknowledge" on the first line of the reply.
  4. Adding "REMOVE" to the subject line.
  5. Adding all the spammer's corporate addresses to the To: line.
  6. Hitting "SEND".
  7. If no response received in one business day, resend the same message, except for adding "I received the following bulk E-mail from you yesterday, please acknowledge that you have removed by address from your mailing lists" on the first line.
  8. Continuing to send the remove request until it's acknowledged. Perfectly acceptable, accomplishes the same goals as the Pandora project, and no one will have any problems with it.

Prolific newsgroup contributor John Oliver maintains an online database of bad-boy ISPs, complete with email addresses.


Internet Data Mining Home PageWord-for-word transcription of Usenet postings, circa 1998-1999.