news Getting a handle on spam emanating from generic top-level domains

[News]

Another reply came from the .xyz gTLD. They were miffed. Yes, they know they get used for spam because some of their registrars—the sales side of gTLDs—sell their domain for dirt, actually for pennies in some cases. It’s nice to get a hook in the mouth of a legitimate customer. If a domain is successful, then it’s going to earn money.

The problem is cheap domain names, easily registered with little to no authentication by hungry registrars who are ostensibly aiding the poor getting online, become easy pickings for spammers and worse. Authentication costs money, and added costs cut into already slim revenue models, reducing registrars’ motivation to authenticate users.

What might help? Certificate-based reporting parsers. Put these on the front end of mail servers (after actual authentication), and automatically send reports to SOMEONE WHO CARES to deal with the problem. Why certificates? Easy answer—they vouch for authenticated sources. ..

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