At 7:58 -0800 3/5/03, Michael Marking wrote:
> I'm not sure why open relays are useful now... don't all networks/ISPs
have local SMTP servers these days?
Some ISPs restrict use of their servers to those who have dialed in
from the ISP's own networks. Therefore, if you are a customer of ISP
X travelling away from home, you may not have access to that ISP's
SMTP servers. Even if you make arrangements to use a different ISP
while travelling, you may find when you arrive that the system doesn't
work (which can be very frustrating if you don't speak the language of
the country you are visiting).
POP-before-smtp solves this quite well, stands up to analysis.
if not, use AT&T or whatever it's called. They have POPs in every country, and
support pages in every language. This is not a particularly
compelling argument.
Also, some people have no ISPs, but gain access by being a guest on
someone else's network. For various reasons, they may not want to
use that person's network to send mail. (For instance, they may not
want anyone to know they are visiting a certain person, while they
are using that person's network.)
Source IP is still on there even with the most sloppy remailers these days.
Finally, open relays provide some measure of anonymity for the sender.
Not compelling at all. If the relay is at all responsible, the source IP is
on there just the same. If the sender is a member of a large ISP (e.g. even a
cable modem user) then the message is pooled with millions... no anonymity
benefit whatever.
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