Re: vsnl refuses smtp relay and linux box at home suffers

[Sandip Bhattacharya <sandipb@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I had raised this issue on LIG sometime back. VSNL wants people to
_pay_ (Rs. 600 annually) if they  have to send mail using some other
"MAIL FROM:" address. 

They sent a mail to all subscribers saying that people have
been "unfairly" using VSNL SMTP servers to send mails, while using the
email services of other firms like Yahoo, Hotmail etc. So they have
asked such subscribers to send mails through the SMTP services of
these webmail providers. Their claim is such "foreign" traffic is
hurting the interests of their clients who loyally use the VSNL email
addresses for sending mail.

Apparently, VSNL has also submitted major chunks of it's dialup IPs to
the DUL list. These lists ensures that direct-to-MX mail from dialups
as mentioned by Rajat are as much prevented from sending mails as the RBL lists
are. Thankfully, as Suresh pointed out, very few sites are using DUL
lists for stopping SPAM. 

The weird thing is that even if we use VSNL addresses for sending
mails, we still have as much outgoing traffic as before, cause people
will still have to send mails. So how much of this decision is for
"actual suffering" of it's "genuine" subscribers, or how much it is
for the money that they hope to make out of their v-mail services, is
to be seen.

- Sandip




Apparently VSNL and NetCracker are both using these restrictions. 
On Wed, Aug 29, 2001 at 10:39:01AM +0530, Rajat Bhatia merrily said:
> Hi,
> Why do you want to use relay anyways,
> Use sendmail to send the mails directly to target domains. I don't know how
> to configure it though, but it works out of the box on my RH 6.2/7.1 system .
> 
> I have put '/usr/lib/sendmail -q' in my /etc/ppp/ip-up.local, and all the
> queued mails get sent automatically when I log on to the net.
> + I can use any email address in the from field.
> 
> As for checking the sender IP, they did that long before they put in these
> restrictions.
> Regards,
> Rajat
> 
> Ajit Ranade wrote:
> 
> > On Wed, 29 Aug 2001, Sanjeev Gupta wrote:
> >
> > > I am still not clear.  What is the enforced policy now?
> >
> > i assume sender ip *and* sender domain checked. domain must be vsnl.net.in
> > or vsnl.com. (actually i am now wondering whether they check sender ip at
> > all!)
> >
> > someone pls educate them!
> >
> > -akr
> >
> > Please use Reply-To address and not the From address to reply.
> > My email address is akr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------
> > An alpha version of a web based tool to manage
> > your subscription with this mailing list is at
> > http://lists.linux-india.org/cgi-bin/mj_wwwusr
> 
> -- - Popi Classification
> -------------------------------------------------------
> Classification applies if checked...
> [ ] General Business Information
> [ ] Motorola Internal Use only
> [ ] Motorola Confidential Proprietary
> 
> --- A Nice Quote
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not
> lead.
> Walk beside me, and be my friend. - Albert Camus
> -- Contact Me
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>  Rajat Bhatia
>  Rajat.Bhatia@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>  Tel:    +91-124-6307212   Ext 1350
>             +91-124-6303212   EPABX
>  Operator
>  Fax :  +91-124-6306679
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------
> An alpha version of a web based tool to manage
> your subscription with this mailing list is at
> http://lists.linux-india.org/cgi-bin/mj_wwwusr

-- 
-------------------------------------
Sandip Bhattacharya 
sandipb @ bigfoot.com
http://www.sandipb.net
-------------------------------------