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Re: namedroppers, continued

2003-01-07 11:12:55
At 13:05 07/01/03, Lloyd Wood wrote:
Doug has rediscovered the idea of closing open mail relays to prevent
unauthorised use by outsiders sending to outsiders. This was a big
thing in the early 90s when email became popular.

Doug has also come up with the idea of adding the IP address of the
originating client machine (not necessarily using SMTP) in a header
so that an attempt can be made to identify it - e.g. Hotmail has done
that for years.

missing mail admin experience, I think.

This remarks shows that the problem is around for more than ten years and that no one found a satisfactory solution in using the present system. Would this feed back from real world not be enough for us to understand its 'cybernetic' (true meaning) lesson : the current mail system model is inadequate.

Question now is : do we have to investigate a new one? or can an architectural change/addition may elegantly address the case? probably a mix of both due to the existing e-mail system use. ie a new e-mail system with a retro-compatibility with the current one. Or would it also be a new TCP/IP design, compatible with the old one? Or/and a new IPv6 compatible with the old one?

May be Dick Clarke will tell us next week how much he wants to invest into such a Nextnet?
jfc