🚀 go-pugleaf

felix@escape.vsse.in-berlin.de (Felix the double Helix) writes:
>
>well really? do you use a patched smail? i use smail, but as far as i found
>only logs incoming and outgoing mails are logged. i find this absolutely
>ok, but logging *all* telnet's to the smtp port, or even logging all of the
>transactions themselves (well, actually more the latter) i personally find
>unethical. or even another argument against it: what would you want with
>all that rubbish?
>

Logging the actual transactions, i.e. the actual contents of each message,
would be both unethical and useless, IMHO.

HOWEVER.....

Logging the transaction data (the sender/recipient addresses) can be VERY
useful.  For instance, I've used that information (extracted from syslog)
to fine-tune our routing from within sendmail.cf.  If a particular "off
the beaten path" mail route sees extensive use, I'll route it directly
to the gateway machine (rather than route it all through our campus-wide
mail router, which is busy enough as it is).

I could also see where logging all *connections* to SMTP could be handy
in an oft-attacked site.  I've noticed quite a few people downloading the
membership list of my mailing list.

>all of us should know that a mail send to you *could* be forged easily.

Most users do NOT recognize this fact.  I've had several users attain
ballistic trajectory after receiving an obviously forged piece of mail.
I mention the untrustworthiness of email in every lecture I deliver, but
most users seem to forget about it.

>also all of us must know that the mail we send *can* and sometimes even
>*will* be read by others. with this in mind, we can use mail as we wish.

Again, not everyone is aware of this.  You should see the widening eyes
when I give the "email is not necessarily private" portion of my lectures.

>as a postmaster, i often telnet to port 25 of machines too, to find out if
>any obscure errors can be reproduced. i wouldn't want to see who uses me
>system to test a mail connection to me or somewhere else. i couldn't see why
>anyone really finds this interesting, but ah well, if somebody gets a kick
>out of logfiles...

Of course, one may also find people attempting to handfeed mail 
to /bin/sh......8)

--Wes

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MORGAN@UKCC         |       Wes Morgan       |        ...!ukma!ukecc!morgan 
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