On Mon, Jan 24, 2005 at 05:26:24PM -0800, Professional Software Engineering
wrote:
If you're looking for something for mail admins to be hostile about, you
should check out what Verizon has decided to do (blocking mail from
European sources, AND performing SMTP callbacks).
Yes, I have a news article about that sitting on my desk. It is infuriating!
I have a Verizon Wireless plan on the cheap for a cell phone for when I
am in the States -- once or twice a year. For that, I've been paying $22/mo.
for a long time! Stupid, I know. (But I like my phone number! It's got my
last name in it.)
Anyway, I'm now thinking I will cancel as soon as I can and tell them this
is the reason.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/21/verizon_class_action/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/18/letters_180105/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/14/verizon_email_block/
Last line of the earliest (lowest) story underscores the ludicrousness:
"Verizon three million DSL customers waiting for emails from Europe
were advised to use alternative forms of communication. "If it's really
important you might want to make a phone call," [a spokesman] said."
Oh, while looking for these I ran across a story that might have even
more implications for procmailers:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/18/german_email_blocking/
German court rules email blocking 'illegal'
By Jan Libbenga
Published Tuesday 18th January 2005 12:27 GMT
Selectively filtering out emails of a specific sender may
constitute an offence, the Higher Regional Court (OLG) in
Karlsruhe ruled on Monday.
Two years ago a university in Baden-Württemberg blocked the
email of a former employee who left after a quarrel with his
peers, but continued to stay in touch with scientists and
friends.
His former peers decided to filter out every message in which
his name was mentioned without informing the ex-employee or
his friends.
The Higher Regional Court now has ruled that blocking email by
content is unlawful as it is considered confidential in German
law. Blocking is only allowed when, say, a viral attack is
imminent.
The implications of the ruling aren't yet fully clear. Whether
the Higher Regional Court has unintentionally legalised spam
(which frequently is filtered by content) remains to be seen.
I live in Germany. I Generally think the court system here is okay.
But this is preposterous! You might remember a couple of years ago,
too, that the German court ruled that linking web pages makes you
responsible for the content on the other web page! Idiots.
--
dman
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