I have not posted much to this this lately, but have been closely following the concerns around Michael Welch's statements. In support of Michael as end-user and customer I feel compelled that I must voice my opinion on this matter.
<SOAPBOX> 1. As ISP we should never forget that our end-users are our customers and it is their needs (and money) that make our business a success or failure. It is with their good graces that we receive the revenue to support the delivery of email to them and as SERVICE PROVIDERS let us not purport to be "all-knowing", we are simply and humbly providing a service. 2. Censorship without permission is WRONG (at least from my point of view) and who among us as ISPs have the "right" to determine what are customers want to receive. As almost all of us hate SPAM, we all recognize a users right to OPT-IN (as many due through their so-called "Free" email accounts) to SPAM solicitations, and likewise no customer should have their infected email prevented from being delivered if it THEIR choice. (Although it's not mine!) 3. Now, that being said, from a Host/Network administrators perspective, providing a service to employees, students, or other members; System & Network security is a MAJOR concern. Virus attacks cause thousand of dollars of damage to corporations - and they should have the right to determine how their network is used - and NOT used. I am well aware of this because I know how much we've charged companies this past year to help clean up virus attacks. Even when they had desktop protection, some users still think they know better than the advice of the virus protection software they've enlisted and try to open an infected document. In summary, Michael has the right to believe that his service provider will actually provide him with the services he requested. Likewise if the service provider does not want to service his customer Michael has the power to take his money elsewhere. I know I've heard more than once around this list that if your ISP blocks port 25 and they will not or cannot open it for you that your should find another ISP - and I believe same reasoning should be applied here - Nothing should be blocked without the customers express permission unless it is clearly stated upfront in your TOS and/or AUPs. Why not just offer your customers the choice - full delivery, filtered delivery or a fully scanned delivery. And by the way... since these option require extra work on your behalf and your servers, why not up sell the options to enhance your revenue. </SOAPBOX> I'm very sorry to possibly annoy someone and waste some of your bandwidth but I needed to get this off my chest. Hope you all have a fine day! Thanks for your time... Kevin Coveney Please visit http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html to be removed from this list. An Archive of this list is available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/
