Re: ASCII Captcha

tedd schreef:

At 10:58 AM +0100 8/31/08, Diogo Neves wrote:

Well, I don't know how, but google folks @ gmail are doing a great job with anti-spam tecnology... i believe that is has something to do with the massive user base that can more accuratly say what is spam and blacklist it plus mispelling 'spam' words and the original ones, plus that '1000's from the same guy with same content' wow. I really get so less spam comparing with all other webmail clients... I love gmail :)

I like the idea behind spamcop

spamcop has idealogical issues in much the same vein as anti-virus software makers. watch the multi-billion dollar anti-virus market evaporate if virus ever became past tense. if I was raking in billions on AV software I'd likely have a big-ass slush fund to prop up starving VX writers ... tell me every global corporation doesn't have a slush fund for off-the-books transactions :-) Also spamcop is in the position of completely outcasting legit businesses ... in fact I read about them blacklisting a german anti-spam outfit years ago, basically because of difference of opinion. this feels rather like google+adwords can completely destroy anyone's online presence if they want (and also competitors can game the system to screw each other). I don't believe this kind of thing should be in the hands of commercial entities, much like I don't believe that the US government should 'control' the internet (yes I know the ceded control to their sock puppet ICANN, but I don't feel that changes anything in a fundamental way)

If you're a member, like I am, you can report the spam you receive. Those reports go into making a spam filter by which all subscribers can pass their email through. It's like an ever-changing and constantly-improving spam filter. It would be nice if organizations like that also provided a service we could use instead of a Captcha. Just food for thought. Cheers, tedd