[Spambayes] questions

[Simone Piunno]

Alle 17:56, giovedì 29 gennaio 2004, John Gleave ha scritto:

> I don't know if you will reply to this.  I wonder if you can tell me how
> (porno) emails get through to my mailbox when they are actually addressed
> to someone else?  (cjreeves or cjreid or similar)?Thanks for anything you
> can tell me! C Gleave

The To: header of the email (the one you see in your mail reader) is not 
(necessarily) the list of receivers of that email.  The real list of 
receivers is always hidden and this is the reason BCC actually works.

Mail relays on the internet exchange messages keeping separate information: 
the header+body payload (what you see in the mail reader), a sender and a 
list of receivers.  Just before dropping the message in you mailbox, both the 
sender and the list of receivers (the envelope) are thrown away and you won't 
be able to see them [1].

Try to compare to this example: when you send a formal snail mail you write 
one address on the paper sheet inside the envelope, but you also write a 
(possibly different) address on the envelope!

The post service will deliver the message looking only at the envelope, they 
won't try to open it and see if the paper sheet inside has the same address.

[1] Some mail server copies the address that made the message reach your 
mailbox and insert it in the message header, typically in the Delivered-To 
header, but 1) this is not required and 2) only your address will be copied, 
not the full list of recipients.  Mail readers normally don't show the full 
list of headers, they only show To, From, Date and Subject.  Nonetheless, all 
of them have a specific procedure to show the full header.
I see you use Microsoft Outlook Express 6 and unfortunately I don't know how 
to give you better instructions on this... 

Cheers
  Simone

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