Are we looking for solutions, or just ranting? (was Re: Comcast and SORBS)

[mark at buttery.org (Mark J. Dulcey)]

Bob George wrote:

>>  You don't see these issues as important; I do. You place more
>>  importance on protecting yourself from spam than on protecting your
>>  freedom, which I find strange.
> 
> If find it strange that the ability to send unprotected SMTP is seen as 
> any great protection of one's freedom, and that energy is expended 
> arguing that it is. My privacy and freedom of association will be 
> protected by using tools suited to that task, irregardless of the path 
> my message flow.

My concern is with the concentration of control of email. I don't trust 
the large corporate entities to act in my best interest; perhaps 
relaying through their servers is currently benign (or maybe not), but 
there is no guarantee that it will continue to be. I would prefer a 
solution that would allow me to control my own email server, rather than 
using one of theirs.

About the only solution I can imagine is a consortium of a large number 
of private users, agreeing to block any source of email that blocks 
them. AOL might actually care if their email were blocked from millions 
of internet users, and be forced to change its policies. One individual 
can't do a thing separately; they simply won't care.