FYI, here is a direct link to Earthlink's policy on this:
http://help.earthlink.net/port25/
----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Perry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2001 4:47 PM
Subject: RE: [IMail Forum] ORBS problems
> > What's wrong with ORBs? Let me tell you a story.
> >
> > ... We later found out that Earthlink (their dialup
> > provider) was using ORBs to block port 25 on their routers.
> > oops. This costed us a few customers before we figured it out.
>
> That's a problem with Earthlink! ORBS never told, asked, or suggested to
Earthlink to do that.
>
> Actually, Earthlink is probably doing a GOOD thing, by preventing its
customers from spamming. FYI, they now block access to ALL SMTP servers, so
you would have the same problem today, without ORBS being involved.
>
> > simply because no one bothered to tell us we were listed,
>
> ORBS sends E-mail to the servers that it tests. However, if you don't
have a postmaster@[IP Address] account that will accept mail, there is no
way it can get mail to you. It's up to you to have a valid postmaster
account.
>
> > I have some fundamental rights issues with them:
> > 1. Who are they to tell me if I can relay or not? Of course,
> > we don't, but that isn't the point.
>
> They aren't saying you can't relay. They are just pushing you to close
your open relay. I get a lot of spam from people that run open relays, and
I would much prefer not to get the spam. Most people feel the same way
(surveys agree with me on this).
>
> > 2. ORBs subscribers use the list in ways they may not have intended.
> > Earthlink uses it to block all traffic from a "relay" site.
>
> Yes, and Earthlink could choose to blacklist you even if you aren't on
ORBS. That's an Earthlink policy you don't like.
>
> > 3. ORBs incorrectly listed one of our IPs as an open relay, when
> > it was not.
>
> I've never heard of that happening, but mistakes certain can happen. So
what? If you sent E-mail from such a server to me, I'd see "ORBS:" before
the subject.
>
> > 4. Now we have to proactively track if any of our blocks are
> > listed so we don't get blindsided again. One more daily task
> > we should not have to do.
>
> Just set up your servers to follow RFCs, and you should get the notices.
I got one here when we first set up our mail server and had it as an open
relay.
>
> > I guess it just comes down to that I don't appreciate yet another
> > entity telling me what I can and cannot do.
>
> Then you must hate Earthlink. <G>
>
>
> --
> -Scott
>
> Declude: Anti-virus and Anti-spam solutions for IMail.
http://www.declude.com
> --
>
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