AOL now rejecting mail from Comcast residential IPs.

Ben Boulanger ben at blackavar.com
Sat Mar 29 09:23:55 EST 2003


On Sat, 29 Mar 2003, Derek Martin wrote:
> forced into using resources that I don't want to use.  My connection
> has adequate bandwidth to handle the traffic of my tiny little e-mail
> server, and I'm not a spammer.  So I should not be punnished for the
> sins of others...

Like it or not, the internet is a community.  Can you carry a gun without 
a license?  Why not, if you're not a killer?  The truth is, until there's 
a central body of control over the internet (that actually has the ability 
to enforce rules), companies should be self governing.  If AOL says 'no 
direct mail from this IP Space' because there's a known issue with it, I 
think they're doing the right thing.  To ignore the problem only makes it 
worse.

> What I would like to see is a central database of people who are known
> spammers, including the credit card(s) used to open the spammer
> account, which ISPs should consult before providing an account.  Why
> am I ok with this?  Because sending spam is a crime, and that makes

While it's a nice idea - it's fraught with problems.  Check out the zorch 
mailing list - they often have discussions about this very subject.  
Abuse.net, ORBS and MAPS all do a part of this... but here's the truth:  
The services you're talking about are residential services... If I were 
AOL, I wouldn't see any reason to allow mail directly from that either.  
I'm sure they're not blocking Business class DSL space - what about a 
hosting facility?  These are business solutions.  

I like running my own smtp server too.  The people who install sendmail, 
forget about it, and never protect it make it worse for me - but I can 
live with that because I know that I'm sitting in the ip space that 
comcast uses for their residential customers.  If I didn't want to be 
lumped into this group, I'd pay more for something else.

Ben


-- 

"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; 
that is the principal difference between a dog and a man." -- Mark Twain




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