There are ways to insure the identity of the listmembers.  However, they involve time and a little bit of money.  There are various certificate programs whereby your original identity is certified either by another certified member or by an official such as a notary public, bank person, etc.  Only certified members can use the listserve.  All incoming mail must match a certificate on file.   I don't know all the details but my dh who is in the computer business explained a little bit about it to me when I mentioned this issue to him.  He said that this is international and can be done in different ways, but a lot of groups do this now in order to maintain the integrity of their groups.  Any true authentication is going to require a certain amount of effort from both our listmoms (God Bless your hardworking souls!!!) and our listmembers.  I think that most of us would be willing to put forth this effort if it means that Lactnet will remain healthy and usable for the forseeable future.
Warmly,
Sharon Knorr, BSMT, ASCP, IBCLC
Newark, NY (near Rochester on Lake Ontario)
mailto:[log in to unmask]

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