People who object to their networks being scanned for SMTP vulnerabilities on occasion (with an interval that ranges from a couple of weeks to a couple of months) have something to hide. They are hiding incompetency, management failure, corporate idiocy , Dilbertism and most of all: financial interests that have managed to completely corrupt any dedication to providing secure, stable and responsible service on the Internet. Some people have apparently forgotten that the Internet does not work without consensus and respect for other entities making up the network as a whole:
or maybe the collocation provider sees security as THEIR business and something THEY provide the customer. and maybe they see folk from outside 'testing' their network to be similar to someone walking down the street testing homeowners' doorknobs. not that i agree with this position completely, but i can see how someone might hold that opinion. but your self-righteous hyperbole is rather over the line.
Those who violate principles of responsible networking morally forfeit any claim of protection under the same principles.
somehow, i think this high-sounding moral stand would not prevail in a court of non-vigilante law. in fact, crackers who tried it as a defense failed. randy