you expect them to apply a null route? Well, I *have* been talking somewhat idealistically here and there with this crop of questions, but frankly I thought in the 2 or 3 years I was ignoring the list that the NETWORK OPERATORS ostensibly in custody of the intertubes would have pulled things together a little better and grown enough of a pair to firmly state "this crap stops here and now" and make it happen. I do see pockets of good progress and research here and there and have gotten a lot of good feedback from people, but the big picture [as I watch my logs roll by] is pretty grim. Especially when the big players don't play at all. I've been around long enough to have a good idea of what *can* be done, but totally lost sight of any sensible reason why it *isn't*. Besides quarterly revenue, which is pretty short-sighted. Fortunately, I still have the luxury of being able to have my mailsystems tell cpe-*.rr.com and pool-*.verizon.net and c-24-*.comcast.net, along with large swaths of offshore IP space, to take a powder. Hundreds of times a day. But it's still their trash flying onto my tiny little lawn, and shouldn't be my job to sweep up. I mentally extend that picture to the millions of recipients who possibly aren't able to implement unusual and/or draconian filtering, and wonder how anybody ever gets any productive work done. _H*