> Perhaps ORBS could instead list the netblock as 'unscanned but
> well-policed'
> if no addresses in the entire netblock currently appear in MAPS.
[snip]
> Is this a reasonable way to increase the value of the information
> served by ORBS, i.e. would this reduce rejection of good email?
>
> - Dan
I would be happy if ORBS just stopped lying to people about what they are.
Compare:
"What is ORBS?
The short answer: ORBS is a validated database of open mail relays and open
mail relay output points, accessable via DNS lookup."
to:
"Q. That sounds unfair. If ORBS doesn't probe a machine, why should it list
that machine? If it doesn't probe that machine, it doesn't know if that
machine is an open relay.
A. Yes, it does sound unfair. Turning the argument around, though, you can
see that if ORBS doesn't probe a machine, ORBS doesn't know if the
machine is closed to relaying. So the question really is: If ORBS
cannot test a machine, should it assume the machine to be an open
relay, or a closed one? Either assumption will be wrong some of the
time. ORBS makes the first assumption."
Now I was always under the assumption that ORBS was supposed to be a list
of _validated_ mail relays. The definition of 'validated' is 'the removing
of doubt by authoritative fact or evidence'.
So this answer is irrelevant. It doesn't matter if ORBS assumes the machine
is relaying or assumes it doesn't. In fact, this is a classic false
dichotomy. Must you either assume that I have fifty cents in my pocket or
assume that I don't have fifty cents in my pocket? Of course not. You don't
assume either.
So the question should not be what we do or don't assume, because who cares
what ORBS assumes. What I do care about is whether the entry constitutes a
'validated open mail relay', and if not, what the hell is it doing on a list
that is represented as a list of 'validated open mail relays'?
The advantage of ORBS over similar lists was supposed to be that:
1) ORBS would proactively search for relays, rather than waiting for them
to be abused.
2) ORBS would add any relay they found, regardless of whether the
administrator had been warned or not or whether he/she promised to fix the
problem shortly.
3) ORBS would contain only validated mail relays tested by a less fallible
means than other lists.
But this is not what ORBS is shaping up to be at all. It continues to
represent itself as containing only proven open relays on the main 'what is
ORBS' type pages while this is actually far from the truth.
DS
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Jan 15 2000 - 21:00:26 EST