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Re: Why spam is a problem.

2002-08-13 09:58:57

"Christian Huitema" <huitema(_at_)windows(_dot_)microsoft(_dot_)com> writes:
SPAM is a problem, but the solutions so far have a strong smell of
"throwing the baby with the bathwater." For example, a popular ISP
practice is to block all SMTP connections that are not directed to a
local ISP server:

And without that practice, Christian, I'm sure I'd be getting even
more spam than I do now.

There are other
irritating consequence, such as mailing restriction on IETF lists, which
we are forced to accept for the common good but which also makes
interaction harder than necessary.

Thank goodness we have them.

What I'm trying to say, and what some people still don't hear, is that
this is no longer just an annoyance. Unfortunately, many in the IETF
community still cling to the naive feeling that somehow our personal
distaste at closed mailing lists or dial up lines that cannot
communicate on port 25 except to authorized hosts is more important
than keeping SMTP usable AT ALL. What happened to Usenet will indeed
happen to SMTP if we do not stop pretending that the problem is
insignificant.


-- 
Perry E. Metzger                perry(_at_)piermont(_dot_)com
--
"Ask not what your country can force other people to do for you..."



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