[thelist] SMTP and spam prevention (was:The Spam Argument [long] (was: ....)

[Andrew Seguin]

In reply to Steve Lewis's comments:

A final point then... (it's true this is a web oriented forum, not
email/general server administration and this is where it is heading).

Final point 1: The postifx authentication uses a library from Cyrus
"SASL". It is a simple matter of adding it's support during compilation.
SMTP Auth then works fine. It is not just a "hack" protocol, just it is
often not turned on, but I have seen it used.

Final point 2: I believe the SMTP protocol is flexible enough. All we have
to do is block the abusers. Limiting what the internet can do goes against
the underlying principles of freedom on the internet that I believe
strongly about (the net is a network for people, not companies). So I
believe it's just a question of blocking spammers from our own networks,
and blocking the networks that don't respect other people's privacy.

I do believe it is possible to block spammers out through network
administration, and if you aren't ready to invest the time and enery to
configure your server properly (non-relaying, usage of RBL, etc), then I'm
sorry for the users of that network.

Anyways, I don't want to abuse the list, from which I have gained
solutions to problems I haven't even yet had in my programming duties
(thank you all)... so I'm not going to pursue this further.

Andrew