Dave Sill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes on 1 February 1999 at 12:11:36 -0500
> [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.
I guess I just don't think of running networks on a dialup these
days. I had to expand to a second small (8-port) hub at home, but
they're all on static ips, so they don't look like anybody's dialup
pool.
> >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.
Really? How much better? AND -- how many people are affected?
> 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.
I think there's a fair range of opinion available as to just what's
reasonable. It's not really that cut-and-dried.
--
David Dyer-Bennet [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.ddb.com/~ddb (photos, sf) Minicon: http://www.mnstf.org/minicon
http://ouroboros.demesne.com/ The Ouroboros Bookworms
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