> Ah, the dark side of private self-governance. Since the Internet can't be
> controlled by anyone, how could one person possibly have such power?
Paul Vixie and RBL don't hold that kind of power. What Vixie does is
offer me a service, to which I subscribe, that allows me to filter out
sources that tend to be spammers.
I can drop his service any time I want. And the RBL mechanisms are not
closed. Anyone can create a new RBL service that uses a different
criteria, and I could switch to that alternative RBL service if I liked
its criteria.
In other words, it isn't Vixie that has the power. Rather it is I who
have the power. RBL gives me the means to better manage my site, but RBL
isn't forced down my throat, it is a voluntary choice I make for me. (
(It is a somewhat less voluntary choice that I impose upon those users who
elect to use my systems. But they are free move and to get their e-mail
elsewhere where my choice does not apply.)
As a data point, I might note that I've watched my mail logs for several
months now and the number of e-mails that I reject due to RBL is at least
an order of mangatude smaller than the number that I reject because the
source is not a valid domain.
> There are lots of substitutes for RBL, aren't there?
Right now there is only one RBL service. But that's because the criteria
has worked so far.
--karl--
