LEE Tet Yoon wrote:
> At 08:40 p.m. 3/04/2006, you wrote:
>> Speaking as someone who spent many years doing ISP tech support, including dealing with spam, virus payloads and drone hosts...
>>
>> The _only_ accepted convention nowadays is for SMTP to be driven through the ISP you gain internet access through.[1]
>>
>> With SMTP being entirely seperate to POP3 or IMAP, this policy doesn't impact on your ability to use third party mail services.[2]
>>
>> 'nuff said.
>
> Are you sure you're right here? I first read this a few days ago and my understanding is they intend to block port 25 inbound. Note that the article you link to specifically mentioned people who run their own servers would be affected. Perhaps they're planning to block outbound as well but I've never seen any discussion about people having to make sure they use Xtra's SMTP server.
>
> From previous articles I've read, not particularly technical either computerworld or NZ Herald my understanding is they're trying to ensure their users don't run open SMTP relays either by configuration errors or due to worm/bot infection. In theory smarter worm makers would just ensure their SMTP server bots use different ports but I guess at the moment there are still enough places where port 25 is not blocked that it's unlikely.
>
> BTW although I know very little about the technical side of spam, I don't really get why it matters if you use xtra or another SMTP server. AFAIK very very few Xtra customers use their Xtra accounts to knowling send spam. AFAIK also most spam nowadays is sent via botnets and the like. Therefore the bigger problem is open relays who can unwittingly be used to send spam by spammers. Open relays are only effective if their email actually gets through and I'm guessing open relays on Xtra often are since if they'll tend to use the Xtra SMTP server which is trusted. I don't really get why people using a different SMTP server is a big issue.

This is why they are blocking outgoing to non-Xtra mail servers, to
reduce the amount of botnet-sourced spam from their customers. This is
the primary reason.

btw, your lines don't seem to wrap at 72 characters.

aj.

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