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yeah, I saw that -- the message scores 3.7 according to the report, well under 5. It's pretty reckless to lower the threshold enough to cause that to hit as spam. however, it'd be nice to get a copy with full headers so we could think about whitelisting it ;) - --j. Dan Kohn writes: > http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1807582661;fp;16;fpid;0 > > Tsunami warning hits the spam barrier > > Michael Crawford > > 07/07/2005 07:29:27 > > The first live run of the Indian Ocean Tsunami warning system earlier > this month turned out to be a bit of a disaster. > > Not a natural disaster, but it provided an unexpected result for some > users of Apache's SpamAssassin. > > Subscribers to the automated e-mail warning system, which sent out an > alert for an earthquake off Northern Sumatra that rated 6.7 on the > Richter scale, found the Tsunami warning notification deferred as spam. > > The problem arises if the open source filter is installed straight out > of the box; the messages (usually written in upper case) are not > considered spam. > > But for anyone who locks down the spam filter, SpamAssassin categorizes > the e-mail as spam due to a combination of upper case text in a > clear-cut format forwarded by a hidden sender. > > With the spam filters locked down, the warning message - written in the > original in upper case letters, of: "THERE IS A VERY SMALL POSSIBILITY > OF A DESTRUCTIVE LOCAL TSUNAMI IN THE INDIAN OCEAN", rates a spam score > of 3.7 out of 10. > > Australian National University (ANU) visiting Computer Science Fellow, > Tom Worthington, said anything that rates over five is considered to be > spam and a 10 is absolutely spam. > > "There is also a general concern that the more words the message uses > will make the rating go even higher," he said. > > "The indicators on the message are typical of what spam software uses - > if you work in a government agency there is less of a concern, because > the system is set up to receive the warnings but there is always the > risk that computer support will install a spam filter for mail and these > messages won't get through." > > Put simply, these dire warnings of a natural disaster will be blocked > because they will be regarded as spam. > > "With these sorts of messages you want to make sure they get through ... > the other interesting thing is previous tests had this exact problem > with the spam filters," Worthington said. > > "The Tsunami messages are very official and use clear-cut wording which > is setting off the spam filters - they need to change format because > part of the problem is that spammers also try to make messages look > official." > > Worthington said he has since been in contact with the Japan > Meteorological Agency which issues bulletins for the Indian Ocean, and > with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural > Organization requesting them to redesign the mailouts. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Exmh CVS iD8DBQFCzdIPMJF5cimLx9ARArQ0AJ9Ww7KkqoBNaSYFUnIZdtm0fJM4WwCeK7Uf ckn84nDpPdMM8htu5vrFxtQ= =nWyP -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
