"Steven M. Bellovin" <smb@research.att.com> writes:

> >Rendering all spam traceable is significantly improved
> >functionality.
> 
> Really?  What good does tracing it do?  What are you going to do
> with the information?

While I don't disagree with you, Steve, I can't help but wonder why
spammers obscure their addresses now if they didn't care about being
identified.  I think they do care because:

        (a) in most cases, they are violating their ISP's acceptable
            use policy; and
        (b) users could start blacklisting them (there must surely be
            repeat offenders).

I've heard it said that if a system like SPF really worked, spammers
would just start registering throwaway domains.  However it might
"raise the bar".

Cheers, Ben