Blackmail is such an ugly word
RBL (“realtime black-list”) is a simple yet effective net technology. Much of its power comes from piggy-backs onto the existing DNS infrastructure, automatically giving it many desirable attributes (scalability, distribution, caching) for free. My problem is with the name…
RBL lists, despite their diversity, tend to get tarred with the same brush. While many lists contain specific IPs a “punisher” list such as SPEWS aims for degree of collateral damage, deliberately causing problems to discourage ISPs providing spammers with service. However, this use of sledgehammer-over-scalpel, coupled with (in many cases) and apparent lack of accountability makes the use of all RBL lists contentious.
After MAPS complained about the use of “RBL” (their trademark) as a generic term, the anti-spam community seemed to settle on a new acronym DNSBL (DNS black-list).
They missed a real opportunity. Lots of RBL-using software in the past bought into the “blacklist” idea, you could use it to block and to warn, but that was it. But there’s potentially more there that the “BL” suggests. I prefer the term used by Exim – DNSDB (“DNS Database”) as a moniker. A DNSDB that maps IP-to-country mappings could be used both as a blacklist (no mail from Nigeria) or as a whitelist (…if you do business with Nigeria, or just like making sarcastic replies to the many widows of former military
dictators).
Bonded Sender is an example of one such white-list use. Email marketeers put up a monetary bond that they’re not spamming, and legitimate complaints cause money to be deducted from the bond. On its own it’s not going to impact the kind of shady spam that currently fills abandoned inboxes, but it’s an example of positive DNSDB technology. An alternative to the ambitious all-or-nothing proposals to the commercial email issue.
It’s more feasible than the email micro-payments proposals I’ve seen, or
certainly better than some of the stupider anti-spam schemes.
