spf-discuss
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Re: [spf-discuss] Users mistaking the SPF project for well-known (to them) ISPs (Fwd: Huh?)

2006-06-09 03:54:18

I'm forwarding a submission from the contact form (I anonymized it because
the submitter requested confidentiality) that troubles me.  Obviously he
does not understand that it is _his_ISP_ (canada.com) who is "controlling"
him, but that's not the matter.

I don't think 'canada.com' is an ISP. Looking at their website, it looks
they offer some kind of portal, probably with a webmail service as well.

What is the matter is _how_ could he have mistaken us (the SPF project)
for BELL NEXXIA?

Probably because Bell (Nexxia?) is his connectivity provider (looking at
the remainder of the whois for the IP used to send the message):

# whois 209.226.0.0

OrgName:    Bell Canada
OrgID:      LINX
Address:
City:       toronto
StateProv:  ON
PostalCode: K1G-3J4
Country:    CA

NetRange:   209.226.0.0 - 209.226.255.255
CIDR:       209.226.0.0/16

So in all likelyhood, he submitted his message through the Bell Canada
mail submission servers (or directly from a broadband connection, I can't
tell).

Did he get a bounce from canada.com with the "why.html" link and thought
this was a page run by the recipient's ISP?

No, he probably thinks it is generated by *his* ISP and that they are not
allowing him to send mail where he likes. Instead, the problem is that he
used a sender address from the 'canada.com' domain, which was rightfully
rejected by the recipients ISP, since 'canada.com' doesn't allow the Bell
outbound server (?) to send mail on its behalf.

Does anyone think it would be a good idea to add a visible note to the
"why.html" page explaining that "we are not associated with any ISPs, not
yours, and not the recipient's" (or something to that effect)?

I think it might be a good idea to make a distinction between ISP's and
mail service providers. Obviously, in this case they are different
entities. And that in general it is not a good idea to use a username from
domain/ISP 'A' and send it through the mail submission servers from
domain/ISP 'B'.

Regards, Arjen

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