Saturday, June 02, 2001, 2:08:40 PM, you wrote:
GC> You should not allow rogue, (self appointed) Internet Police to make
GC> decisions about who you filter from your network. You should police your own
GC> network. Organizations like ORBS allow network admins to become lazy and
GC> unaware of what's really happening on their networks.
I agree wholeheartedly. The fact is that the use of orbs and other open
relay databases seem totally ineffective in reducing UCE volume. The
broadband ISP that I use at home recently started using one of these
databases. While there has been no reduction in the volume of spam I
receive; I have heard hundreds of complaints from other customers
complaining of the blocking of legit e-mail.
Five years ago I started the first ISP in a very rural county.
Within a year I had 1200 subscribers and about a dozen qualified
buyers. Needless to say, I sold it for an arm and a leg to one of the
deep-pocketed buyers. From my viewpoint, an ISP opens itself to one
big class-action lawsuit by claiming it is aggressively censuring
e-mail. A good lawyer, and some are beginning to specialize in
Internet related suits, could easily make the case that the massive
amounts of smut UCE's slipping right through are therefore considered
acceptable by the ISP. Some of this spam contains links to what are
claimed to be sites containing images of "underage teenage sluts", for example.
As a former ISP owner I see the potential for very costly legal action
against ISP's claiming to be successfully censuring unacceptable
e-mail via use of these "wonderful" databases. These third-party net
cops are not a substitute for competent and vigilant system
administrators.
I've ran smtp servers at home and on my office T1 for over two years,
and have been totally self-reliant (and very effective) in dealing
with spammers and open relay operators without involving third
parties.
BTW: Not one single UCE has ever been originated or relayed from either of
my sendmail servers.
--
Ben mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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