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Usually a script is run from cron which automatically downloads the latest development version of SpamAssassin, runs it against your spam and ham, and then uploads a log of the results. One line per email, with a list of the SpamAssassin rules each email hit. Your actual email is not uploaded.
An advantage to participating is that it makes SpamAssassin more accurate on your email.
Currently, sa-updates are not even happening because we are not getting enough mass-check data submitted (since December 2010).
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