SCN as a spam problem

[michaelh at scn.org]

  Could sombody explain what being used as a 'spam relay' means?
Does this mean that people who have accounts on SCN are sending out
spam?  Or is it people on other systems making some of their spam look
like it came from us?  Or both?
  If the former, is there any action required aside from revoking
account privileges to those people if they don't quit?
Is there some delay in doing this?
  For the later - is there anything we can do about it?

  I certainly think SCN should take part in a general action to make
spam illegal (just like junk faxes).  Though perhaps setting up one
group to deal with the problem and letting them divide the labor
might be more efficient.  
  In the interest of educating ourselves, perhaps sombody could
explain more particularly how SCN is part of the problem.  Thanks

	Michael Hanson
----
  Now if we could just outlaw unsolicited phone calls ... 


On Sun, 14 Sep 1997 20:49:29 -0700 (PDT), John Johnson <jj at scn.org> wrote:
>Spam--unsolicited bulk e-mail--has become a major problem on the Internet. 
>And SCN has become part of the problem. 
>
>We are being used as a 'spam relay' to innundate others, and other sites
>are complaining that we have not corrected this.  We have reached the
>point where other sites may begin refusing connections from SCN.  And the
>traffic generated burdens our Internet connection, and could imperil its
>continued availability.  For these reasons I say that we need to deal with
>this spam relay problem--effectively, and immediately.  It is not just
>another urgent priority--it is a critical problem of paramount importance. 
>
...

>"Put up or shut up" has a second and even third meaning here:  if we do
>nothing, Internet e-mail service and newsgroups could even collapse due to
>spam.  More immediately, SCN could be cut-off from the Internet if we
>don't get our own house in order.  So--do we really even have a choice? 
>
>=== JJ =================================================================
>

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