James wrote regarding 'RE: [EE] email spamblock router?' on Mon, Jan 16 at 17:29:
> How about just checking the RBLs? 

Dunno - is there anything out there that does this?  I guess it'd be
pretty trivial to write an SMTP relay which just did a DNS lookup
against an RBL...  The SMTP RFCs are fairly straightforward when just
acting as a dumb relay.

> Also, if the router rejected an email based on an RBL listing, the person
> sending the email would get the bounce (right freaking NOW!) and would know
> why. In the end, this will do more good than just sending spam to the bit
> bucket as it will put pressure on ISPs to better regulate their users.

No, the person whose From: was forged in the spam will get the bounce.
I'm pretty sure those stupid bounces make up about 10-15% of the junk
I get, and I can assure you that I'm not sending out a bunch of spam.
If you're using an ISP-based RBL, which would allow you to reject
messages before accepting them and partially avoide the bounce
problem (ro at least doesn't make it worse), then you're blocking
whole ISPs instead of spamming users.  It'd be nice if ISPs cared, but
a lot of them don't - and the hapless victim users often don't know
that they need to tell their ISP about the mail blockage via RBL.
Heck, half of the ISPs I've dealt with would say that's a windows
problem and that the user should "update their antivirus" or reboot.
:)

--Danny
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