[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
>It's an unusual step for a dial-up user to make direct SMTP
>connections from his system. Examining why they occur, there seem to
>be 3 cases:
>
>1. Misconfiguration. They really should be going through their ISP's
> mailserver.
>
>2. Spamming -- they're doing something they don't want to be visible
> to their ISP.
>
>3. Playing -- situations like home Linux boxes where people want to
> make the connections direct because they can.
4. Home networks.
I've got three PC's connected to a 3Com LAN modem: two Winblows boxes
and a Linux box. Rather than having the scattered MUA's talk to the
ISP's servers for POP and SMTP service, I'd like them to talk to my
local server. That way they can send and receive mail even when the
modem isn't connected or the ISP is down--an all-too-common
occurrence.
>So it doesn't seem that unreasonable to me to block SMTP from dialup
>pools. The legitemate users appear to have perfectly reasonable
>options, and it stops one way of injecting spam.
I disagree. Yes, I could configure my server to pass everything off to
the ISP's mail hub, but, frankly, I can do a better job of it than
they can. And switching to a more competant ISP is not an
option. Where I live, there's only one ISP that's reachable via a
local call.
Stopping spam is a worthy goal, but one must seriously consider the
costs associated. Preventing competent people from doing reasonable
things is not an acceptable cost.
-Dave
