Subject: Re: bug#46472: Make lisp/mail/uce.el obsolete

From: Stefan Kangas <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 13:45:49 -0700

Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]> writes:

> Document: yes.  But your change modified the code as well, and more
> importantly changed how the feature works.

This is what I suggest for emacs-28, note the "Do not merge to master"
in the commit message.

On master, I suggest the same patch as before, but with the updated
text that you can read here.
From bb575f38b54624d973e72a06a9272db2fbe0cf06 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Stefan Kangas <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2021 06:30:20 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Recommend against using uce.el

* lisp/mail/uce.el: Recommend against its use.  (Bug#46472)
Do not merge to master.
---
 lisp/mail/uce.el | 21 +++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+)

diff --git a/lisp/mail/uce.el b/lisp/mail/uce.el
index b07004de38..0a488e176f 100644
--- a/lisp/mail/uce.el
+++ b/lisp/mail/uce.el
@@ -30,6 +30,27 @@
 ;; uce-reply-to-uce.  Please let me know about your changes so I can
 ;; incorporate them.  I'd appreciate it.
 
+;; -- !!! NOTE !!! ---------------------------------------------
+;;
+;; Replying to spam is at best pointless, but most likely actively
+;; harmful.
+;;
+;; - You will confirm that your email address is valid, thus ensuring
+;;   you get more spam.
+;;
+;; - You will leak information and open yourself up for further
+;;   attack.  For example, they could use your \"geolocation\" to find
+;;   your home address and phone number.
+;;
+;; - The sender address is likely fake.
+;;
+;; - You help them refine their methods of spamming.
+;;
+;; Therefore, we strongly recommend that you do not use this package.
+;; Use a spam filter instead, or just delete the spam.
+;;
+;; -------------------------------------------------------------
+
 ;; The command uce-reply-to-uce, if called when the current message
 ;; buffer is a UCE, will setup a reply *mail* buffer as follows.  It
 ;; scans the full headers of the message for: 1) the normal return
-- 
2.30.2