Comcast and SORBS

[richb at pioneer.ci.net (Rich Braun)]

From: "Don Levey" <lug at the-leveys.us>
> I'm on the other side of this one.  ... at one point I was
> getting hit with over 1000 attempts per day to deliver spam and viruses from
> dynamic IPs on Comcast's network

We're getting a bit off-topic from the Linux group if I reply to this in
detail; my personal interest in posting here is to seek Linux-specific tools
and services to continue running a private email server given ever-increasing
restrictions.

But I do feel compelled to respond to the above point:  even if every large
ISP based in America and the major countries that share American
intellectual-property corporate values were to implement blocks on SMTP port
25, the impact on spam would be *negligible*.  I get about 10,000 spams per
month.  Only a very small percentage is from servers based here in America,
and I'd probably have to search long and hard for any sent out using a cable
modem.

I just flat-out disagree with your assertion that Comcast should block
outbound port 25 in the interest of spam reduction.

> I have no illusion about "privacy" rights when I'm using
> someone else's private property for my transmission, even under contract.
> And they'd be fools to permit unmonitored communication over their network.

I used to run major operations at two different ISPs.  If I ever said anything
like the above in a forum visible to customers, there would have been serious
consequences.

As for the public-policy implications of the above, suffice it to say that I'm
a card-carrying member of the ACLU and that I believe the public does have an
ownership interest in the utility rights-of-way and/or broadcast spectrum that
delivers Internet service to/from our homes.  ISPs do not provide me with
their service using "private property".

-rich