----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Gardner" <jonagard(_at_)amazon(_dot_)com>
To: <spf-discuss(_at_)v2(_dot_)listbox(_dot_)com>
Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2004 2:14 PM
Subject: *****SPAM***** Re: [spf-discuss] SPF and Responsibility
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Hash: SHA1
Michael, and all the others who disagree with me:
I assert to you that the machine at smtp-out-1002.amazon.com (IP
207.171.160.42) sends mail for Amazon.com. If you get mail from that
machine that claims to be from Amazon.com, it is one of our messages.
Yesterday, I was notified that that machine and others like it were
sending
out messages considered to be spam.
I had two choices:
(1) Tell the reporter, "Why are you trusting that machine? Sure, I said it
is legitimate, but you'll have to discover whether individual messages are
legitimate! It's your responsibility to figure it out!"
(2) Tell the reporter: "Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I will
resolve this as quickly as possible. It is definitely our fault because we
told you to trust that machine."
That is the bottom line. Which one do you think I did?
False dichotomy, followed up by a strawman. That's a one lemma penalty, and
your opponents will receive the kickoff.
The normal response is one of:
1) Thank you for reporting this issue. Due to confidentiality reasons, we
cannot reveal the results of our investigation, but rest assured that we do
not permit spam on our networks.
2) A withering glare of "why are you bothering me?", conveyed by no response
whatsoever.
3) A bunch of confusing legalese which translates to "Take up your concerns
about spam with the actual email sender, not with us."
You continue to ignore the difference between "sent from us" and "sent by
someone on our machines". The difference is huge, and is the difference
between being the letter bomb sender and the delivery person who left the
package. Until you acknowledge that distinction, none of this is going to
make sense to you, but you'll be in an invented world of responsibilities
that has no legal or cultural grounding except for you and perhaps a few
like-minded individuals somewhere in the world.