Can mail be accepted where it isn't sent?

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2 total messages Started by Dan Berleant Thu, 08 Jan 1987 07:38

#4019

Author: Dan Berleant
Date: Thu, 08 Jan 1987 07:38

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O.k. electronic detectives! Recently in one of the newsgroups
someone posted a message which was considered inappropriate by
many who probably flamed him in a big way. He followed up with
an apology, claiming that:
1) He received a copy of someone else's posting, but by email.
2) He sent a personal reply in response.
3) His response ended up posted in the newsgroup.

He accused his intended recipient of posting it (unlikely). His
intended recipient said he never sent him any copy and accused
him of ...
OK, you get the idea. The question is, what really happened?
Can a mailer mess things up by accident? Could a 3rd party
send someone a message with an edited header that would route
a reply to some other location? In short, what gives?!?

thanks,
Dan Berleant
UUCP: {gatech,ucbvax,ihnp4,seismo,kpno,ctvax}!ut-sally!berleant
ARPA: ai.berleant@r20.utexas.edu

Re: Can mail be accepted where it isn't sent?

#4022

Author: John Chambers
Date: Fri, 09 Jan 1987 15:38

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> 1) He received a copy of someone else's posting, but by email.
> 2) He sent a personal reply in response.
> 3) His response ended up posted in the newsgroup.
> 
> Could a 3rd party send someone a message with an edited header that 
> would route a reply to some other location? In short, what gives?!?

This isn't at all difficult.  What I'd do is put an article into a
scratch file, edit it a bit to make it say whatever I liked, and then
type:
	uux foo!rmail joe <junk

The edited article would be mailed to foo!joe, with a initial "From "
line, but otherwise unaltered.  If I know something about his mailer,
I can set it up so that all sorts of funny things will happen when he
tries to reply to it.  This is dependent, of course, on joe not looking
too closely at the headers, and trusting his mailer to handle it for
him.  

You're welcome.

-- 
	John M Chambers			Phone: 617/364-2000x7304
Email: ...{adelie,bu-cs,harvax,inmet,mcsbos,mit-eddie,mot[bos]}!cdx39!{jc,news,root,usenet,uucp}
Smail: Codex Corporation; Mailstop C1-30; 20 Cabot Blvd; Mansfield MA 02048-1193
Clever-Saying: If we can't fix it, it ain't broke.

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