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I want to tell you what Stephen van Egmond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said
about "Re: [crypto-canada] Fwd: Re: Might " on 25 May 2001, at 14:30
> Bob Jonkman ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> > > People who are afraid Sympatico is trying to help the spooks trace
> > > their mail really have their head in the wrong place.
> > Maybe today. Maybe tomorrow. But it's one of those (potentially)
> > incrementally, nefarious things. [...]
> The thing is, they haven't chosen your mail server for you.
But that's exactly what they're doing... If they do block port 25,
then the only mail server available will be the one they provide.
How can I access another mail server if all the traffic to it is
blocked?
> This is a decision tuned to achieve a bureaucratic end, which is
> avoidance of responsibility (SMTP troublemakers) or of financial
> costs (tech support).
...and preventing me from using other providers' services. That's
anti-competitive. (I wish we had some of the same laws for this that
they have in the States)
> I think the incrementally nefarious scenario you outlined is a red
> herring on a slippery slope. Here's why: there is no suggestion of
> incoming content filtering anywhere here. It's not even being
> discussed. We're talking about outgoing SMTP.
You're right, this IS a red herring. My point was, how much
interference with services are people prepared to tolerate? My
level of tolerance is exceeded by Sympatico blocking port 25. I used
the hot-button issue of censorship and privacy of mail largely to
arouse interest. Somehow, most people don't show much interest in
other mail features, such as integrated calendaring or document
management...
> The point I tried to make (but perhaps didn't) was that there are
> many, many other ways that people who are interested in seeing who you
> are in contact with can do it. And they don't need to route your mail
> through Sympatico's SMTP services to do it.
Agreed. But routing mail through a single channel does make their
network easier to manage ("bureaucratic end", "tech support" costs).
And with that DOES come the facilitation of eavesdropping (even if
that's not being planned today). I don't want to give them an edge
in this.
> > Also, I don't think it's only a matter of trying to send SMTP mail
> > on a different port, it's blocking all other SMTP services on port
> > 25...
> I've done some poking around. Their help page at
> http://www1.sympatico.ca/help/local/bell/mailsettings.bell.html
> suggests that port 25 filtering is, in fact, what they intend to do.
> I wonder if they will. I'll be amazed if they do.
I don't understand why you're amazed that they would do what they're
now taking steps to implement.
> Perhaps I'm missing something. Have you considered switching ISPs?
There are only two high-speed ISPs to choose from, Bell's Sympatico
service, and Rogers' AtHome service. All the other DSL providers
resell Bell's service (under the Nexxia name). That's a duopoly. If
I was sufficiently paranoid I'd expect that Rogers is in touch with
the policy makers at Bell, and is planning on offering the same
"protection" to their customers (quote from the Sympatico site you
cited).
Rogers isn't blocking traffic today, but there's nothing stopping
them. In fact, I'm not a Sympatico customer, but that doesn't alter
any of my concerns. All I want is unfettered access to the Internet,
and letting one major service provider get away with blocking traffic
just opens the door for all others to follow suit.
Bell owns the football, and so we play by their rules or they take
the ball away. These are monopolistic, anti-competitive practices,
and, unless we, the customers, take steps to stop them they'll just
continue to do as they please, reducing service levels as they go.
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=====
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