Odd. Many gas stations here do just that. Pump is open. You drive up, put gas in. Then pay the amount indicated. If you drive away without paying, you can't say the pump was open to anyone. Sure, the credit card before you pump is more secure because its harder to drive away without paying. I would love such a capability (usefully deployed) in sendmail...or qmail. Its just not there, or hasn't been there. But I agree that argument by analogy is generally not too useful. Seems no one is ever convinced they are wrong upon discovering that their analogy doesn't actually support their argument. --Dean Around 07:17 PM 11/23/1999 +1000, rumor has it that Bruce Campbell said:

On Mon, 22 Nov 1999, Roeland M.J. Meyer wrote:

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What "legitimate business purposes" necessitate leaving SMTP relays open to the world?

How about running a commercial email gateway?

Lets try another analogy set, ie You run a gas station.

open-relay: You give out free fuel to whoever turns up in a vehicle capable of accepting fuel from your bowser.

pop-before-smtp authentication: You require a valid corporate fleet card before handing out fuel.

full-anti-relay: You require payment before letting them near the bowser.

trusted-hosts or IP-based access lists: If their numberplate is in a certain range, give them free fuel.

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How about commercial anonymous re-mailers?

Ah, this would be:

You give out free fuel on sighting, but not verifying, a corporate fleet card, and give them a new car.

--==-- Bruce.

Peregrinus expectavi pedes meos in cymbalis est.

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