On Tue, 2 Mar 2010, Steve Atkins wrote:
On Mar 2, 2010, at 9:12 AM, Daniel Feenberg wrote:
On Tue, 2 Mar 2010, Rich Kulawiec wrote quite a lot. I don't propose to answer
it directly - he doesn't introduce any new evidence or new arguments, just
asserts his old arguments more loudly. Everyone reading the exchange is
entitled to evaluate the arguments for themselves in the light of their own
experience.
+1
There is one argument, not made by Kulawiec that does deserve a
response. That is the underlying problem with the TIS button that is
real. It will generate ARFs that are really just list-unsubscribe
requests from perfectly legitimate sources. It will generate these in
large numbers and it will be impractical to reduce them with user
education. Anyone proposing to process the flood of such messages will
have to come up with an economical way of doing so that doesn't
inconvenience the list owners.
They'll only be sent if the list owner has signed up for the ISPs
feedback loop. If the list owner believes the FBL reports will
inconvenience them, they need not request them.
My understanding is that the ARF from the TIS would not go to the list
owner, but to the MTA that servers the user. The feedback loop is one way
the MTA could communicate back to the source of the message, but at least
at first I don't think it would be the primary path. The list-unsubscribe
header is more prevalent, and probably much easier for the list owner to
implement. So unless that MTA can handle the list-unsubscribe
automagically the TIS messages could be something of a burden. I
understand that some webmail providers do handle TIS actions by executing
the action specified in the list-unsubscribe header (if the header is
present) but I am not really familiar with how they do so, or if it is
difficult. It would be worthwhile getting some information on this point.
List-unsubscribe headers are not all that prevalent today, but if TIS
buttons were more universal, they might grow in importance. There is a
question if they are sufficiently standardized to do the job.
...
Daniel Feenberg
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