See earlier round on Mailblocks: http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=mailblocks --- From: "Ray Everett-Church" <rayat_private> To: <daveat_private>, <declanat_private> Subject: more unfriendly behavior by Mailblocks Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2003 15:25:08 -0800 (For IP and Politech) And the hits keep on coming... ========= Spam foe needs filter of himself http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/5565843.htm By Mike Langberg Mercury News Phil Goldman, a veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur and co-founder of WebTV, wants to become a leader in the war against spam, but he's begun by attacking his coalition partners rather than the enemy. Last year, Goldman purchased a questionable patent that he claims gives his new company -- Mailblocks of Los Altos -- exclusive rights to an established anti-spam strategy called challenge/response. He's sued three anti-spam companies and is making demands that would, in effect, put at least one of them out of business. Talks are under way with more companies, which could also face suits if they don't agree to Mailblocks' demands. This is not how the system is supposed to work. Anti-spam companies should be devoting all their resources to stopping the oceans of unwanted messages that threaten to drown everyone who uses electronic mail, not diverting thousands of dollars to defend themselves against unnecessary lawsuits. The story begins last summer when Goldman had a great idea: Stop spam by erecting a barrier. If you send me an e-mail and I've never corresponded with you before, you get an automated reply that says something like, ``Click here to verify that you're a real person and your original message will be delivered.'' Spammers often use fake return addresses, and rarely bother to check for replies when they use real addresses, so the technique -- called challenge/response -- is almost 100 percent effective in blocking spam. Goldman, who's worked at Apple Computer and General Magic, struck it rich when he and two partners started WebTV, then sold the unprofitable start-up to Microsoft in 1997 for a staggering $425 million. ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH evening reception in New York City at 7 pm, April 1, 2003 at CFP: http://www.politechbot.com/events/cfp2003/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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