[lug] Idea for ISPs to limit spam/zombies

[David L. Anselmi]

D. Stimits wrote:
> I was thinking about how many domains I can no longer email, due to 
> black hole lists marking my comcast servers as spam.

Is that Comcast's mail servers, or your Comcast dynamic IP?

My experience (with QWest) is that I can't use a dynamic IP to send 
mail.  Not because it's on many RBLs but because AOL blocks dynamic IPs 
and I have occasion to send to them.  And I can't relay through QWest's 
servers (which I'd be happy to do) because they require POP before SMTP 
and I don't pay them for a POP account.  So I pay them for a static IP 
and all is well.

QWest's business is set up such that this is the cheapest way for me to 
run my own mail server/domain.  Comcast's business is set up such that 
you have to relay through them.  If it's inconvenient, find another company.

[...]
> Non-commercial users could still send anywhere, but they would be
> forced to watch how much traffic they are sending out.

Sorry, I don't see any benefit to this approach.  Most customers don't 
care that their port 25 is blocked or RBL'd.  Those who know how to run 
a mailserver and care to do so don't want such limits/hassles for 
outbound mail.  So you seem to be providing a service for the niche of 
users who can't avoid viruses but want to send their own mail.

Dave