[ale] Speedfactory now requires mail contents to be readable

[Jerald Sheets]

Let's start with Greg, seeing that I'm in a particularly grumpy mood  
today...

If you'd been around here any particular amount of time whatsoever,  
you'd know that I am a Mac user, and prefer Mac even over Linux on  
the Desktop.  Therefore your misdirection of the topic to OS zealotry  
is misguided and a red herring.

The  facts are that the reasons for both SPAM and attachment scanning  
are because the majority of users will be sporting the Windows  
operating system, and the minority will have UNIX based OSes such as  
ours.  Since the majority of the install-base uses the Windows  
Operating system, by necessity we must say that the majority of  
systems have the "out  of the box" ability to be compromised via  
email means.  Next, we must say that even though we would be  
considered among the "enlightened" users, news like today's DIGG  
regarding a 0-day that blows right  past a fully-patched Windows  
system will continue to arise.  If the majority of users are  
"unenlightened" users running a generally insecure operating system,  
probability states that the majority of email-borne viruses and  
trojans will be propagated by windows systems. (note I didn't say  
"carried".  That would be uninformed and  misguided.  I get trojans  
and  viruses in my inbox every day, they just don't affect me at  
all.)  ;)

If you'd like to "discuss" a topic, then let's.  If you'd like to  
wildly throw accusations around about someone you've never met or  
don't know, please do take your conversation elsewhere.




Jerald M. Sheets jr.
Sr. UNIX Systems Administrator
The Weather Channel Interactive
404.293.8762



On Dec 28, 2005, at 12:34 PM, runman wrote:

> ----- Original Message Follows -----
> From: Christopher Fowler <cfowler at outpostsentinel.com>
> To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts <ale at ale.org>
> Cc: runman at speedfactory.net
> Subject: Re: [ale] Speedfactory now requires mail contents
> to be readable
> Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 12:08:33 -0500
>
>> On Wed, 2005-12-28 at 11:06 -0500, Jerald Sheets wrote:
>>
>>> An aside here:  You have Microsoft and clueless users to
>>> thank for   these types of policies.  It is in
>>> Speedfactory's best interest to do   this type of
>>> automated scanning, so as to escape culpability in the
>> spread of viruses and trojans, as well as staying off
>>> various   blacklists hither and yon.
>>>
>>
>> Exactly.  I don't blame them.  IMO if they detect the
>> sender of MS origin then they should scan every bit of
>> that email.
>>
>
> The topic here is Speedfactory's ineffective anti-virus
> program.  If you want to start a MS bashing thread please
> have the courtesy of changing the subject.
>
> Using MS does not equal spreading spam/virii just as using
> Linux does not equal security.  Also, why should someone use
> a particular OS because of OS bigots as yourself who can't
> understand the previous sentence ???  Using your logic I
> could make the case that anyone who doesn't use OpenBSD (way
> more secure than a default install of Linux) should be
> denied access to the Internet.  Besides - the topic here is
> that an ISP who is following your principles of
> "non-security" has in fact done the opposite - I am barred
> from using security to protect my email from prying eyes.
> Besides IF I HAD USED A NON-MS OS IT STILL WOULD HAVE
> FAILED. The OS / mail client is not relevant here. C'mon -
> focus people !
>
> Software is neither evil nor good - it's people who
> determine that.
>
> I know this is a common trait of ALE - picking one
> irrelevant thing in a post and starting a whole new thread /
> flame war on that one little thing but it seems to me that
> this has driven a lot of people off of this list as well as
> diminishing motivation to participate in ALE (or even Open
> Source) because of this compulsion many have of "making
> mountains out of molehills".
>
> Greg
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