On September 18, 2002 at 00:01 dhc2@dcrocker.net (Dave Crocker) wrote:
the claim is that outbound 25 is blocked to prevent spam. however accessing a remote 25 with smtpauth ensures full accountability and, therefore, prevents spam. blocking 25 disables use of this mechanism.
Part of the disagreement here is basically one of calibration, how serious and desparate the spam problem is perceived to be. One attraction of blocking port 25 is that you can now say to the any spam complaints about your users demanding an answer WE DON'T ALLOW PORT 25 ACCESS SO IT MUST BE SOMETHING ELSE and get on with your day rather than sitting and staring at the headers like tea-leaves trying to formulate a reasoned reply. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over (get my point?) And maybe that quick answer would even be true. Also, with blackhole lists, many running on automatic and hair-trigger, it lessens the chance that some excess mouth doesn't manage to get your entire ISP blackholed or at least makes it easier to make your case. Think about it: Some little dork with a pc can manage to get your ISP onto some widely used blackhole list and then your phones and email complaint lines really light up. Nothing like a few hundred extra customer complaints an hour to get your attention. It sucks, Dave, it doesn't suck just a little bit, it sucks kinda like anthrax in the mail sucks, spam is a wrecking ball which is successfully taking down the internet we once knew. If you find that hard to believe I invite you to sit here in my offices. I guarantee you your words at the end of the day will be "oh my f***ing god, I just didn't understand how bad it really is." And it gets worse daily. If something doesn't come along and stop it I predict in 5 years e-mail will only work in "gated" communites (corporate LANs) etc and the net will basically become this passive electronic billboard system. Blocking port 25 is kinda like the post office requiring packages over 1lb not be put in mailboxes or banning pocket knives on planes, it's become so trivial relative to the actual problem it's hardly worthwhile discussing. -- -Barry Shein Software Tool & Die | bzs@TheWorld.com | http://www.TheWorld.com Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 617-739-0202 | Login: 617-739-WRLD The World | Public Access Internet | Since 1989 *oo*