On Sun, 19 Mar 2000, you wrote:
> Just for information why isn't it possible to simply decline to open large
> attachments (not that I make a habit of sending them) , I open very few
> attachments of any kind on security principle unless I know where they come
> from.
Opening the attachment is different from downloading it. I have a cron job
set to kickoff fetchmail every so often and download all messages in all
accounts. Since this email account is only used for a few mailing lists, I did
not set a size limit in the .fetchmailrc file.
> Placing on the web, I wouldn't know where and have forgotten how I obtained
> it in the first place except I think it was one of the anti-microsoft sites.
If I read the above correctly, you did not post it to a web site, since you did
not know who to give credit to. If you did not know what restrictions were
placed on copying and distribution by the original author/artist/performer, why
would you think that email was any different from a website posting?
> Of course I am utterly spoilt using a 2mb bandwidth and can well remember
Some of us live in internet hell no cable modems, no dsl, just a plain old
modem over crappy telephone lines, which get a 26400 connection at best.
(Although the telco says dsl is coming soon).
> the frustrations of slow downloads however in this kind of scenario there
> is, like sex & violence on TV, an easy solution, its called the off switch
> or in computerese the mouse click - lo and behold the problem is gone.
Not quite the same. Content is not the same as size. I often choose what to
download based upon the size of the file. This was forced upon me. While I
could have set my configuration file to block the download, I chose not to,
based on the fact that this email address is mostly used for a few mailing
lists where folks are usually well behaved. Sometimes size does matter...
> Please feel free to enlighten me further if there is some aspect of this I
> have misunderstood since my one object was to lighten up peoples lives a
> little (not stir up the hornets nest--- well one hornet anyway,again that's
> not directed at you of course)
Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the clip. I even downloaded an updated mp3
player so my wife could listen to it on her windows machine. I would have just
prefered to choose to download it, rather than having it sent to me without
warning.
--
Alex
(Go easy on me, I'm a COBOL programmer in real life)
