John 'gnu' Gilmore's ISP have
blocked his outgoing mail, because he ran an open relay. This
was not an act of momentary carelessness either, being a staunch Libertarian
cypherpunk type (gods bless him), Gilmore believes he is within his rights to
run an open relay. Mind you, this is one of the rare times when I must
disagree with Gilmore; we cannot expect the Internet, used by hundreds of
millions of people (some of whom will be bottom-feeding scum, like the
spammers who exploit open relays), to be as open and trusting as when it was
a small community of academics and hackers; any more than you can
expect to be able to leave your door unlocked in the big city.