On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 09:18:19 -0500, Nils Ketelsen <nils.ketelsen@kuehne-nagel.com> wrote:
Okay, the main difference seems to be:
1. People here trust, that mailservers on port 587 will have better configurations than mailservers on port 25 have today. I do not share this positive attitude.
I think you're right here.. There are a number of us who will endeavor to do it the "right way", and then there are others who will either not have the technical know-how, or just plain don't care..
2. Port 587 Mailservers only make sense, when other Providers block port 25. My point is: If my ISP blocks any outgoing port, he is no longer an ISP I will buy service from. Therefore I do not need a 587-Mailserver, as I do not use any ISP with Port 25-Blocking for connecting my sites or users.
For a commercial service, I agree. Commercial users are deemed "more intelligent" and should have the capability to set up services in a more secure manner. Residential users, however, are the general problem. Your average Joe User has no idea how email works other than merely clicking the send button and having the email appear magically at the other end. Most users don't have spyware or virus checkers either. All of this leads to a large group of general users who can be exploited and abused at-will. As an ISP, I find it necessary to block certain ports. I block port 25 outbound from my residential customers to prevent direct-to-mx spamming. Currently they can only use port 25 on my mailserver, but that will eventually change to only port 587 and port 25 will be completely blocked. I also block netbios and other similar services which were never intended as WAN protocols in the first place. And I haven't had a single complaint from any of my residential customers. I'm fairly confident that they're mostly unaware of these blocks even though they were announced in advance..
I agree. Just as I said: If the ISP blocks (and I do not care which port he blocks), then it's time to go and look for another ISP. If I buy Internet I do not want a provider that decides for me which parts of it I am allowed to use today and which I am not.
You would be one of the smarter "Joe Users" who can handle the day-to-day nasties on the internet. Unfortunately, you're the minority... I wouldn't mind having an alternate service, with no change in pricing, that would allow users like you to have the freedom they want. In fact, if I had any demand for it at all, I'd set something up in a heartbeat.
"Wehret den Anfaengen" is the german saying, I currently cannot find a good translation for.
Nils
-- Jason 'XenoPhage' Frisvold XenoPhage0@gmail.com