Fun new policy at AOL

Thu Aug 28 22:54:16 UTC 2003

On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 12:07:30 -0400, Matthew Crocker wrote:

>It can be built without choke points.  ISPs could form trust 
>relationships with each other and bypass the central mail relay.  AOL 
>for example could require ISPs to meet certain criteria before they are 
>allowed direct connections.  ISPs would need to contact AOL, provide 
>valid contact into and accept some sort of AUP (I shall not spam 
>AOL...) and then be allowed to connect from their IPs.  AOL could kick 
>that mail server off later if they determine they are spamming.

Now there is an idea!  However an improved variant is to make the
entire internet a 'trust relationship' using the (obvious) steps you
propose.   For several months I have been pondering possible details of
implementing same; see <http://www.camblab.com/misc/univ_std.txt>.
Comments welcome.

Jeffrey Race