December 7, 2024

Schneier's CryptoGram Misclassified as Spam

Seth Schoen reports that Bruce Schneier’s CryptoGram email newsletter is misclassified as spam by SpamAssassin and Razor. Seth Finkelstein explains why SpamAssassin gets it wrong.

Schneier’s worst offense, according to SpamAssassin, is using the phrase “100% free”. Second worst: using the same all-caps word twice on the same line. (The offending word is “BES,” which is the name of an encryption algorithm.)

I’m amazed at the number of people who scoff at the feasibility of automated Web-porn filtering, while simultaneously putting their faith in automated spam filtering.