On Fri, 3 Oct 2003, Michael Schaap wrote:
> On 1-Oct-2003 01:11, David B Funk wrote:
>
> >Don't /dev/null the spam, reject it. Unlike the procmail/qmail/posfix-ites
> >you have the tools that enable you to "Do the right thing"(tm).
> >With SA+milter+sendmail on your incoming gateway you can give an SMTP
> >reject status to an attempt to hand you spam (or other nastygrams).
> >
> >This is the right thing to do because:
> > (...)
> > In the case of real spam, unlike a 'bounce' or return to sender, the
> >reject will -not- send it to some innocent bystander but will leave the
> >spamhaus holding the bag of garbage.
>
> This is not necessarily true.
> If you receive mail through some relay server (for instance you are set
> up to receive mail through your ISP's server, or you have a backup mail
> server - spammers increasingly send mail to the secondary MX record),
> you may reject it, but this intermediate relay server will then have to
> bounce it. Usually to some innocent third-party. (Like me. I receive
> a few thousand such bounces per week.)
>
> IMHO, in this day and age, bouncing/rejecting spam is definitely a bad idea.
>
> - Michael
Point taken. Yes, life sucks when you don't have control over your net
connections and are forced to operate thru upstream relays.
I long ago decided that secondary MXs not under my control weren't
worth the pain. They negate the effectiveness of RBL based block
lists and other spam controls. So I only MX to other machines that
I have control over else I'll do without.
I still maintain that bouncing bad, rejecting good (with the caveat that
you are talking directly to the turkeys).
Dave
--
Dave Funk University of Iowa
<dbfunk (at) engineering.uiowa.edu> College of Engineering
319/335-5751 FAX: 319/384-0549 1256 Seamans Center
Sys_admin/Postmaster/cell_admin Iowa City, IA 52242-1527
#include <std_disclaimer.h>
Better is not better, 'standard' is better. B{
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