Re: [courier-users] breaking smtp

On Nov 5, 2007 9:48 AM, <gordan@bobich.net> wrote:
> I'm questioning the theoretical benefit of it as much as the current
> practical one. Until it starts being enforceable, it isn't really helping,
> and setting up SPF records in DNS achieves equally little if nobody is
> checking them and acting on them.

The theoretical benefit of implementing SPF without enforcing it is
that we build a situation where we will in the future have something
enforceable which will provide practical benefit.

> And considering that bouncing one false positive is typically viewed much
> more dimly than accepting a hundred true negatives (we are certainly
> achieving better rates than that without SPF), it doesn't take many
> non-adopters to kill it off. Not to mention that a lot of perfectly
> reasonable setups are liable to be non-compliant almost by design.

If it is a standard that everyone else has adopted, then the non
adopters will fall into line. Its really simple, all my domains are
corporate domains. I can check the logs very easily and determine
which other corporates they email, or they can tell me, and if I
quickly see that they all have adopted SPF, I'll know its safe to act
on the info and any new corporate looking to mail my customers will
have to implement SPF in order to do business with them.

However, if all my customers contacts are sitting waiting to see what
everyone else does before acting, then nobody will act without the
introduction of an email governing body, which is what we'll end up
with if we won't act without someone there to kick our ass and whip us
into line so that they can take responsibility for killing the spam
problems and charge us a tax for doing it.

Really, you have a simple thing to set up, set it up, it'll cost you
nothing to do it and you'll enable an ungoverned sector solve its own
issues and remain ungoverned. However, fail to act, and you will be
supporting the introduction of a governing body who will in all
probability implement the same solution and charge you taxes for
enforcing it quoting the reduction in the cost to businesses as being
a huge saving they've achieved.

Bottom line is that it is simple and easy to setup SPF, costs
virtually nothing, do it, and who knows, maybe no benefit will come
from it at all, but not because you sat around talking about it
instead of implementing it.

Lisa.

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