Fwd: Re: Digital Island sponsors DoS attempt

Fri Oct 26 08:01:04 UTC 2001

> > ..., the broader standard of "unwelcome" is more
> > widely applicable than the narrow standard of "illegal."
> 
> This is where we arrive at "Acceptable Use", which is why it is
> required.  But these policies need to be propogated and enforced at
> smaller points of intervention.

That's vaporware at the moment.  Until it's realized, senders must follow a
universal standard for determining whether their traffic will be welcomed
by receivers and intermediate systems whose AUP's aren't published in a
mechanised form and with whom the sender has no direct relationship, or
contract, or terms of service.

And unlike a direct relationship where it's safe to simply enumerate the
things which mustn't be done and then assert that, subject to revision of
that list, everything else is OK; in the indirect, transitive case where
the recipient is distant and their policy isn't known, it's only safe to
err on the side of extreme politeness: send what you know to be welcome,
and hold onto the rest.