Re: outbound failure limiting - the next phase in the spam war?

Greg A. Woods wrote:
>
> Well, it's not quite that drastic, but in fact the US Federal Trade
> Commission, under the guise of "Operation Spamzombie", is explicitly
> requesting all ISPs to:
>
> "[[...]] implement these voluntary anti-zombie measures if
> you are not already doing so:
>
> * Block port 25 except for the outbound SMTP requirements of
> authenticated users of mail servers designed for client traffic.
> Explore implementing Authenticated SMTP on port 587 for clients
> who must operate outgoing mail servers.
>
> * Apply rate-limiting controls for email relays.
>
> * Identify computers that are sending atypical amounts of email, and
> take steps to determine if the computer is acting as a spam
> zombie. When necessary, quarantine the affected computer until
> the source of the problem is removed.
>
> * Give your customers plain-language advice on how to prevent their
> computers from being infected by worms, trojans, or other malware
> that turn PCs into spam zombies, and provide the appropriate tools
> and assistance.
>
> * Provide, or point your customers to, easy-to-use tools to remove
> zombie code if their computers have been infected, and provide the
> appropriate assistance."
>
> These recommendations are being, or have already been, sent to all ISPs
> by the US FTC. I second their request and strongly encourage everyone
> (not just ISPs, but everyone running any network gateway) to do as they
> ask, A.S.A.P.
>

the problem is that even if all US ISPs follow the recommendation (which
for some will certainly take at some time), that still leaves all the
others. call me pessimistic if you want, but I don't see that happening
(globally I mean).