Whitecommon files on public dcc servers

On Thu, Oct 19, 2006 at 09:38:29AM -0600, Vernon Schryver wrote:

> > I played with the idea of just commenting out the "include
> > whitecommon" line in my whiteclnt.
> 
> The idea of server-side whitelists is at best useful in rare, special
> cases for private DCC servers.  At start I had the notion that DCC
> servers would have whitelists for all legitimate bulk mail senders. 
> I eventually realized that building a list of all legitimate bulk mail
> senders such as mailing lists would depend on all of them registering
> with me, and anything like that on the Internet has been crazy since
> the 1970's.  So I added client-side whitelists.
> 
> A basic notion of the DCC is that while an outside or central service
> can determine "bulk," "solicited" can only be determined by individual
> mail targets.  If a DCC server can be configured for all mail recipients
> using it, then a server white/blacklist can make sense.  For example,
> Acme Widget's DCC server might whitelist Acme's own mail systems and
> blacklist AAA Gadget's email as well as mail from Porn_R_US.com.
> On the other hand, whitelists are not likely to make sense for a public
> DCC server, because a public server knows little of the 40,000 or more
> anonymous DCC clients using it.

Hello Vernon, this sounds very plausible to me.

I am still wondering whether I should continue to "include whitecommon"
(unmodified from distribution) in whitelist on dccd.wu-wien.ac.at or not,
since it's a public dcc server. Somehow I feel all of them should use the
same whitelist (an empty one). But maybe It's just ok not to care ;)

Thank you,
  George

--
Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration
Central and Internet Services Section
Center for Computer Services
UNIX Server Administration
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