> I've only gotten a couple, but then, my list is pretty small. I
> have seen them though, and they're pretty annoying...
Yes, it is an annoyance.
The alternative, however, is much worse. Mailers closing down
because they are overwhelmed by spam from unauthorized sources.
Torrents of spam relaying through unsecured hosts.
According to a recent study by the Internet Mail Consortium, about
49% of the Internet sites have implemented protections against
unauthorized relay. That's how bad this problem is -- nearly half
the Internet has reconfigured itself in a few months time. Anybody
who has been around the net for a while knows how difficult it is
to get people to upgrade. The fact that half the Internet has done
so is an awesome indication of how significant this problem is.
It is not always an easy task to institute unauthorized relay
protection. Stopping sendmail from relaying, for instance, is a
lot more complicated than it ought to be. Moreover, if you make
a small slip-up in the process, you can end up with these sorts of
"we do not relay" errors.
So, the next time you see a "we do not relay" error, you can do one
of two things. You can bitch about it. Or, you can _thank_ the site
for working to reduce spam, but point out they made a small goof in
their setup. I'm sure they would appreciate the notice.
This is off-topic for this list, but there has been some misleading
information posted. I'll be glad to take it to email. If anybody
wants to know more, please visit the <http://maps.vix.com/tsi/>
page. If anybody out there is a network manager and needs assistance
securing their mail host against spam relay, please email me at my
<chip@maps.vix.com> address.
--
Chip Rosenthal * Unicom Systems Development http://www.unicom.com/
Spammers ate my mail server! http://maps.vix.com/tsi/
Outlaw junk email * Support CAUCE http://www.cauce.org/
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