spf-discuss
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Re: "extreme SPF" scenario for ISPs

2004-02-02 01:47:19
On Mon, Feb 02, 2004 at 09:29:28AM +0100, Gustav Foseid asserted:
Meng Weng Wong <mengwong(_at_)dumbo(_dot_)pobox(_dot_)com> writes:

1) ISPs are expected to be the point of control for outbound mail.
   Getting users to secure their machines is a lost cause.  ISP SMTP
   servers have to be responsible for performing virus and spam
   filtering.

Many ISPs disagree with this. They see themself as a transparent
carrier, much like a postal service.


As an ISP, I like to think that I am just a common carrier in order to gain the 
protection afforded an OCC.  But in practical application, I have to filter 
malicious traffic.  Spam costs me money in increased bandwidth requirements as 
well as increased staffing to handle the bitching from both our clients and 
other ISP's.  I filter ports and I also scan outbound mail for problems that 
would identify compromised machines.  I also have a firewall between our router 
and the internal network doing stateful packet inspection to control rogue 
traffic.  No matter how I look at the situation, I have to impliment these or 
face increased costs and with ISP margins as small as they are, I don't want to 
have to afford extra staff of bandwidth in order to project the 'hands-off' 
personality. 

If a client wants to co-locate and connect directly to their own box, that's 
fine and I will not filter their traffic by port or content.  I will cap their 
bandwidth though.  If that client causes a ruckus deliberately or through poor 
administration, we get draconian and pull their plug until they fix the 
problem.  Of course, the co-located clients are welcome to use our mail servers 
as a gateway and take advantage of things like AV scanning and statistical 
reporting that they probably won't want to pay for on their own.

I'm tired now and I may be rambling a bit...

-- 

Bob Greene
Public key available at 
http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xC9C7841C
Or, you can just pull my finger

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