Re: RFC-822 gurus - Do spammers know when we delete their mail

pctech-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

  7. Re: RFC-822 gurus - Do spammers know when we delete their
     mail (David Gibbs)

rob wrote:

However, the OP was wondering if deleting the email is almost as bad as 
verifying you are a valid address by clicking on a fiendish "click here to 
unsubscribe" in a spam email.  You're right - a spammer may not care, but 
someone who sells a spamming service with verified addresses might.

The spammer isn't going to get the response ... the from address has
been spoofed (in 99% of the cases), so innocent person will simply get a
confirmation that your email address is valid.

Dave:

Probably true, but does it matter for the original question? That is, this kind 
of situation could be one of those that is being piloted by an innovative 1% of 
spammers. A "valid" return address might or might not be "valid". I.e., just 
because it was created by a spammer and receives e-mail for a spammer 
(...hmmm... I wonder what might be done with a database of bogus spammer 
addresses?) doesn't mean much; lots can be done with an e-mail address if the 
server is compromised.

Besides, the real question doesn't necessarily involve RFC-822 nor any RFC 
other than those that define the basic comm protocols. A confirmation might be 
due to a flaw in Outlook or any other e-mail client. The confirmation need not 
be done via SMTP.

Tom Liotta