[HANASHIR:9353] List Security, Email Lists, etc.

[Adrian Durlester <durleste...>]

Chaverim:

Shavua tov!

This list, along with all lists hosted at Shamash, is reasonably
well-protected from spam. Shamash runs software that does parse incoming
messages and weeds out known spammers and identifies other potentially bogus
messages.List Owners have many additional tools at their disposal to protect
list security and privacy.

Hanashir is a closed list. Only subscribers can post to it. All subscribers
must be personally approved by the list owner. Unless they are personally
known to me,  I request additional information from all people requesting to
subscribe. It's not fool-proof but seems to work pretty well. I can't recall
any problems on this list with spam. Recently, a non-Jewish subscriber (and
we do permit that) crossed the boundaries we have about suggestive
statements and  proselytizing and was promptly removed from the list.

I, personally, have always been somewhat amused by the issues of privacy &
security raised regarding the internet. We don't think twice about handing
our credit card to some waiter in some restaurant anywhere in the world, and
most of us don't ask for the carbons. Yet we fear credit card transaction on
the net. And as for email addresses-one pays extra for an unlisted telephone
number. Seems that anyone wishing to provide for their anonymity or
protection from spam on the internet has any one of several online services
that allow people to hide behind alias addresses, many of which are free.
The fact of the matter is that email addresses aren't that much harder to
obtain than phone numbers, and anyone with the tools and a serious desire
will succeed.

FWIW, on almost any list system, list subscribers can get a list of other
subscribers with a simple command. Some lists (ListProc 8 among them) allow
allow indivdual users to block their name and email from appearing to all
but list owners when a request for the list of all subscribers is received.

On ListProc systems like Shamash, simply send to listproc (at) shamash(dot)org 
the
command

REView [listname] SUBscribers

To hide your email and name when a review command is issued, use the
command:

SET [listname] CONceal YES

To make your name and email visible again, use

SET [listname] CONceal NO

It so happens that I have this REView capability turned off on Hanashir
right now-only the list owner can issue a REView command. Simply enabling
the REV commands for subscribers and reminding subscribers to set their
CONceal preference (the deafult is NO) would be the quick and easy way to
give access to emails for people on the list. But the purpose of the web
listing I proposed was to include some more information like location,
positions and whatever people chose to share about themselves.

I will certainly respect the wishes of anyone who does not wish to be
listed, but the majority of subscribers who wrote to me personally would
like to see an easy to access list of subscribers, locations and e-mail
addresses hosted on the web site.  It will be an "opt-in" list. If you WANT
to be listed, please email me privately with your preferred email address,
location, and anyother identifying listings you'd care to include title,
congreagtion, etc.) using the subject line: HN List E-mail Opt In. I will
only post emails of those who opt-in. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery :)

I do not wish to see a prolonged discussion over internet security and
privacy on this list. If you wish to discuss those matters, please do it in
private e-mail. The great and powerful Oz has spoken!

Adrian

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adrian A. Durlester, M.T.S.  - adrian (at) durlester(dot)com
http://www.durlester.com/
Hebrew, Judaica & Music Instructor, Akiva School, Nashville TN
Music Director, Congregation Micah, Nashville, TN http://www.micahnash.org/
List-Owner for hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org; Co-Owner for L-Torah (at) 
shamash(dot)org
http://uahc.org/hanashir
Editor, Bim Bam (for Torah Aura Productions) http://www.torahaura.com/
Evening Program Chair, CAJE 26, Aug. 5-9, 2001, Colorado State University
Member-at-Large, CAJE Board of Directors
Conference Chair, CAJE 27, Aug. 4-8, 2002, Trinity Univ., San Antonio, TX