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Re: [Asrg] seeking comments on new RMX article

2003-05-05 07:21:25
Dave Crocker <dhc(_at_)dcrocker(_dot_)net> wrote:
if you find the rmx record, and then you know the posting is through an
authorized MTA.

if you do NOT find the rmx record, you do not know anything.

  Exactly.

so, what is the real utility of the rmx record?

  Umm... you have more information with which to make better
decisions?  That doesn't seem like a bad thing.

that is, what can you safely do, versus not do?

  For RMX systems, you can safely be more liberal in filtering
messages, because you have some level of confidence that any spam
coming from RMX systems will be traceable and accountable.  That
doesn't seem like a bad thing to me.

AD>   Are there NO other methods which a mobile user may use to send mail?

no.

  I disagree most strongly.

AD> SMTP is only one of many protocols used to send/receive email.

interesting.  i believe there are no others.  ("submit" is simply smtp on
another port.)  which ones are you referring to?

  Some people have posted other alternatives.  An additional one is
mail via a web interface.  If you care about privacy, use SSL.

  The feeling I get here is the same from everyone who's requiring
that mobile users be allowed to send SMTP traffic to any port 25 on
the planet, and to pretend to come from any domain.  They're adamant
that that's the ONLY way they can send mail from remote sites, and
that there are NO other workable alternatives.  The fact that probably
90% of such non-traceable, anonymous traffic worldwide comes from
spammers has no bearing on the subject.

  I'm at a loss to respond to such a position.  It's so trivially,
obviously wrong, that I'm left wondering what I'm missing.

  (I have my suspicions, but in the interest of keeping this
discussion on a technical, rather than political level, I've deleted
the additional paragraph I really wanted to write.)

  Alan DeKok.
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