A Peek Inside France’s National Anti-Spam System

Spam specialist John Graham-Cumming has posted some behind the scenes information on how France’s new national anti-spam system works.

With the brief overview given in the post, it looks like the system automates some processes that are currently manual for many large organizations and enables anyone to participate in the system via an open API. There doesn’t seem to be any new detection technology there, just a recipe of existing ones that filters email before it hits the ISPs.

Some interesting questions to ponder:

Would you want the US Government to put up a system where all of your email was processed through there before hitting your internet provider or would you be too concerned about privacy? Would you use encryption? Do you realize the amount of unencrypted personal information that is trafficked by or about you via USPS mail every day?

Would you trust a coalition of large ISPs building a system like this more than the US Government? Couldn’t they use it to advance their “net neutrality” agenda? Does this foster the formation of a cartel among large US internet providers?

Comments open for your answers. I think I’d actually trust the government more than the ISPs. Yes I know the government effort would be run by the ISPs however there is still an aspect of public service that would hopefully keep it to a higher standard and make it easier to fight abusive behavior by those in control of the system. I would also hope that a government-sponsored system would get email encryption to the critical mass point. I would love to encrypt my messages but as its not standard and popular it creates a barrier to the people I email with. This isn’t because I send seedy emails but even stuff you send via USPS is in an envelope and sensitive information is typically sent in envelopes that have patterns printed inside them to prevent some casual snooping.