Whitelist/verification spam filters

[Mark McEahern]

[David Mertz, Ph.D. [mailto:mertz at gnosis.cx]]
> I consider a false positive to be a broader class than you describe.
>
> Suppose a legitimate (but previously unknown) sender sends me a message;
> my whitelist/verification filter sends a confirmation challenge; but the
> sender's ISP crashes and loses the challenge.  This previously unknown
> sender might not be a new -person-, but simply a new address, of course.

I hadn't thought of that.  To be pedantic, though, how is this a false
positive and not just a general failure of the email system?  I guess the
difference is that the opportunity for failure is introduced uniquely by the
particular spam filtration system (the whitelist filter).

Cheers,

// mark

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