NYCPHP Meetup

[Keith Casey]

On 9/15/06, Anirudh Zala <arzala at gmail.com> wrote:
> 1) The biggest area of this problem is browser. Not because that it is
> being exploited in many ways but why can't browser itself provide basic
> level of validation and input filtering like validations of name, email
> address, phone, fax, mobile etc. according to country or region.

With all due respect, this is a terrible idea.

While this validation *might* work for an incredibly small segment of
information - like address as you rightly note - it pushes a huge
burden onto the browser and then the webapp still needs to do it
anyway.  *Nothing* that comes from a user (or anything they have
access to edit) can be trusted.  Period.  End of story.

In terms of "stopping 70% of the spam", I think your solution - while
it works for you for now - doesn't address the real problem.  Although
most of us on this list are likely getting dozens, hundreds or
potentially thousands of spam today, our filtering (automated or
mental) bring this down to a managable level.  We're suffering from
spam, but not like my grandparents who have had the same AOL address
for 7+ years.  They don't have the tools, time, patience, or
creativity to do what you propose.  Now I don't have a solution that'd
work for them either... so I'm no better off.

My 0.02,

kc

-- 
D. Keith Casey Jr.
CEO, CaseySoftware, LLC
http://CaseySoftware.com