[ NNSquad ] Re: FCC_paths_to_Internet_network_management

["John Meissen" <john@meissen.org>]

lauren@vortex.com said:
  [ John is correct.  On closer inspection, the reject is from the
    remote MTA, not the local MTA (Verizon), so it falls into the
    more ordinary category of remote MTA spam filtering .. ]

Actually, I'm wrong. As Roy politely pointed out to me, the "remote MTA"
is, in fact, the Verizon mail server:

 206.46.252.46: vms046pub.verizon.net

It would appear that the issue is indeed a real one.

Once could argue that it's the next step in the escalating war with
spammers, and inevitable once you force all outgoing email to pass
through the ISP's mail servers since the spammers will adjust their
tactics to suit the situation. 

john-

  [ In fact, when your message came through, I was in the process of
    composing my own message pointing out this twist (or is that a
    "twisty maze of server passages, all different?")  That GTE.net
    (General Telephone Still Lives!) in the WHOIS listing got me
    digging further (another reason why WHOIS is so important, and
    how broad blocking of WHOIS data could have serious negative
    impacts).  And indeed, my Ma Bell Magic 8 Ball comes up *Verizon*.

    This reminds me of someone else who complained that their ISP was
    blocking the sending of what he felt was a perfectly valid URL
    in a message to another individual.  He tried all sorts of
    tricks to get it through -- removing the http:// and so on.
    As I recall, he ended up sending it
      v
      e
      r
      t
      i
      c
      a
      l
      l
      y

    And that worked.  Whoopee.  

    Editorial Comment: Legit users shouldn't have to jump through
    hoops, buy business class service and more expensive tiers, or
    other such games just to have their e-mail *left alone* by
    ISPs.  If a customer is a demonstrated bad actor then by *all
    means* they should be penalized, blocked, drawn and quartered, or
    whatever gives their ISP the jollies.  But treating honest
    subscribers as a combination of kindergarteners, indentured
    servants, and criminal misfits is no way to run an airline, or
    an ISP.  Nobody would put up with this sort of treatment with
    their physical mail or ordinary phone service.  No wonder my
    inbox is often treated to messages from people desperate to
    somehow get out from under their current ISPs.  And unfortunately,
    I usually have nowhere useful to point them as an alternative.

      -- Lauren Weinstein
         NNSquad Moderator ]