Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 09:22:13 -0700
From: Ed Gerck <egerck@xxxxxxx>
Subject: The aftermath, Re: [IP] We are all blacklisted
To: Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
{Dave: for IP}
Now that SoBig gave us a temp break, let's take a look
at the aftermath. This was sent today in a message by
Rackshack, a web hosting farm, to its dedicated hosting
customers:
In order to prevent unnecessary blacklisting due to
spam we reserve the right to occasionally sample bulk
email being sent from servers.
In short, to cope with arbitrary blacklisting it seems that we
now need to accept routine monitoring of our correspondence
-- or else (account termination). No case-by-case reason is
necessary. This is what blacklisting is doing to us: fostering
a Net culture of lack of respect, where each one makes their
own rules and damn the rest. The end game may, however,
be positive after all if we use this as a further motivation for
increasing communication security. I think we will find that
the closest analogue of a closed, stamped envelope with a
return address is not email but encrypted and authenticated
email. We just have to make it easier to use.
Cheers,
Ed Gerck