Ina Faye-Lund <ifl@online.no> wrote:
Also, blocking for relaying is against the RFC. Perhaps someone should write a new one, that only deals with spam and how to prevent it, and what to prevent? Would this be a good task for this forum?
Work is going on in this area in the IETF "Responsible Use of the Network (run)" <ietf-run@mailbag.intel.com> and "Detailed Revision/Update of Message Standards (drums)" <drums@cs.utk.edu> working groups. See, for example: | Internet-Draft Intel Corp. | draft-ietf-run-spew-01.txt Albert Lunde | Expires September, 1997 Northwestern University | | | DON'T SPEW | A Set of Guidelines for Mass Unsolicited | Mailings and Postings (Spam*) | | | Abstract | | This document provides explains why mass unsolicited electronic mail | messages are not useful in the Internetworking community. It gives a | set of guidelines for dealing with unsolicited mail for users, for | system administrators, news administrators, and mailing list | managers. It also makes suggestions Internet Service Providers might | follow. and | INTERNET-DRAFT John C. Klensin, Editor | Expires in six months Dawn P. Mann, Co-Editor | July 30, 1997 | | | Simple Mail Transfer Protocol | | draft-ietf-drums-smtpupd-06.txt | [...] | 0. Abstract | | This document is a self-contained specification of the basic protocol | for the Internet electronic mail transport, consolidating and | updating | | * the original SMTP specification of RFC 821 [RFC-821], | * Domain name system requirements and implications for mail | transport from RFC 1035 [RFC-DNS] and RFC 974 [RFC974], | * the clarifications and applicability statements in | RFC 1123 [RFC-1123], and | * material drawn from the SMTP Extension mechanisms [SMTPEXT]. | | It replaces RFC 821, RFC 974, and the mail transport materials of RFC | 1123. However, RFC 821 specifies some features that are not in | significant use in the Internet of the mid-1990s and (in appendices) | some additional transport models. Those sections are omitted here in | the interest of clarity and brevity; readers needing them should | refer to RFC 821. | | It also includes some additional material from RFC 1123 that required | amplification. This material has been identified in multiple ways, | mostly by tracking flaming on the header-people list [HEADER-PEOPLE] | and problems of unusual readings or interpretations that have turned | up as the SMTP extensions have been deployed. Where this | specification moves beyond consolidation and actually differs from | earlier documents, it supersedes them technically as well as | textually. The full text of these documents is available from your local internet-draft archive (e.g. ftp://ftp.ripe.net/internet-drafts/). James ----- ___ - James Aldridge, Senior Network Engineer, ---- / / / ___ ____ _/_ -- EUnet Communications Services BV --- /--- / / / / /___/ / --- Singel 540, 1017 AZ Amsterdam, NL -- /___ /___/ / / /___ /_ ---- Tel: +31 20 530 5327; Fax: +31 20 622 4657 - ----- 24hr emergency number: +31 20 421 0865