RE: Article Announcement: Can Microsoft End Spam?

The answer to this "how to stop spam" debate seems to have a modestly simple answer, or at least an answer that will make the process easier to identify spammers and deal with them. Can smtp servers not be designed to test an e-mail's point of origin, and if the point of origin is within the smtp server's realm of control, validate the e-mail address before passing it on?

I know this then leads to the area of IP spoofing, but servers should be able to test for valid IP addresses too. While hackers, virus writers and other malicious users can write malware, spyware, internet attack tools, etc, eventually control must pass from the offensive software to an impartial server. It should be the responsibility of the first server in the chain to validate that the traffic is valid, and pass this validation on to other servers in a manner that is verifiable.

If a method to prevent IP and e-mail address spoofing can be found, and more and more networking companies build this intelligence into their hardware and software, then hackers and spammers will have a much harder time hiding behind spoofed anonymity.

I welcome all flames and comments to the above,

Daniel Bragg