Countering Spam by Using Ham Passwords (Email Passwords)
2004-07-08
Language:
English
External links
Full text: HTML
Abstract
This article describes a simple and effective technique for countering spam -- ham passwords. A ham password is a special password you ask strangers, or senders in general, to include in email they send to you. A ham password can be easily added to a subject line. If a sender wants you to receive an email, then the sender should include one of your ham passwords to prove that they are authorized to send the email to you. This technique is excellent in conjuction with other techniques to shore up their weaknesses. In particular, ham passwords can counter the major weakness of spam filters, which sometimes incorrectly label ham as spam. This approach is inexpensive, requires no changes to any software code, and is simple to understand. It also is under the control of the user, rather than ceding control over email to some external entity -- a critical requirement. It especially works well when combined with other techniques that handle non-strangers.
