Email Impersonation

Re: http://radio.weblogs.com/0100887/2002/07/14.html#a339

On CompuServe during the late 80’s and early 90’s, individuals had user IDs that were authenticated by at least the fact that they used a credit card, usually one that wasn’t stolen, to sign up for and use the service. This meant that while someone could run through userIDs if they were blocked from a forum, it did mean that the person writing the message was the person who owned the userID.

Today, I do not know who is sending me email. Viruses immitate friends or steal my identity to send messages from someone else’s computer. And as Jon said, NO ONE SEEMS TO BE DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

I do not understand, for example, why Microsoft has not made it dirt simple to have authenticated mail between Outlook users, and through and between Exchange servers.

Email is crucial to me. It helps me work from a home office rather than a corporate cubicle. Yet today I have no easy and supported way to demonstrate that a message from me is valid and FROM ME. It’s frustrating. And completely unnecessary.