, 2002, 2003
Version 2 is coming!
(it will be compatible) read about it
e-mail me about it
This logic is the exact opposite of a blacklist filter that denies certain known addresses in a prohibited email address list, though permitting all others.
Blacklists fail because SPAMmers change their email addresses, subject lines, etc. so frequently that they are rarely the same twice. There are numerous reporting sites, and most ISPs at least try to block some of it. It doesn't really work very well, though (or my killed spam wouldn't be over 10k--my ISP belongs to the "black-hole" list).
SPAMLESS™ works in reverse. It ONLY lets through the people you already know are ok. It's like having "anonymous call rejection" on your email. My SPAM dropped over 1,000 items per month (see historical report* on bytes/hour, replies/hour, or just look at today's junk).
Rejectees are sent a message (if there is a valid email address to reply to) telling them how to get though the filter (at least temporarily)
It runs on UNIX style ISP host systems that can use .forward, .procmailrc, and a PERL script to digest and respond to unknown mail.
It was written under Linux and my host changed to FreeBSD while it continued to run--no problems. I suspect it will run fine with only minor alterations on most ISP hosts.
Your ISP host could more likely than not run this program. Have them contact me to get you set up. If they have questions, ask them if you can use a .forward (dot forward) file (it is the same mechanism), if they say yes, tell them to give me a call.
Richard Haley
(505) 268-5694
Instructions on how to set it up (for those familiar enough), and downloads are here
NOTE: (Feb 11, 2003) due to the first critical bug, the listings for the middle of February (9-11) were truncated. This was part of the upgrade of the engine in preperation for version 2, which eliminates a support script (or the manual deletion/renaming of the logs). Now they should automatically change to a new logfile at the first spam of the new day. Sorry, but I learned a lot about UNIX time modes, though I still can't explain how a creation time could postdate an access and/or modification time. This bug only affected my testing here, and was not included in any distribution, but it does make the reports on replies per hour odd for that time period.
NOTE: Though there has only been one bug (above) in the SPAMLESS engine, there have been a number of cosmetic issues (mostly in the logging function) which have been cleaned up over time. The "failures" of the product (as a whole) have been entirely (save the one bug above) in the procmail file which controls what is sent to the reply engine. NONE of the mail which arrived in my mailbox EVER got through the filter without permission, and the only real alteration to the procmail file after the first day was the inclusion of the X-LOOP dump (to kill replies from servers telling me that the spammers' emails didn't really exist).
NOTE: (3-31-2003) I think I killed the uglifying crap that some of the spammers have been sending. We shall see.
NOTE: This filter (while still flawless in keeping out anyone who I have not explicitly told can come through), effectively keeps the brain-dead out as well (i.e., if you look through the logs, you will see repeated denials to people who sent me multiple mails, and were consistently denied access to my mailbox). I regret to, but must admit, that most of those in question had easy access to my phone number, and in some cases, even share some genes with me (but obviously not those which account for intelligence), and that I had asked them to send me mail. Still, I have to count it up to the simple rule that they really didn't want to send me mail (if the Nigerian scammers can still get through, anyone can). A simple perusal of the logs uncovered this 'defect' though I can't really say that the 'defect' has been resolved (as the real problem is that they don't know their own email addresses--or don't read very well).
NOTE: if you look through the logs you will see all the cosmetic blemishes as they occurred. Most of them have been quite ugly. Thankfully, none of them have ever been released (they affected only my version running here and not ever available for d/l).