🚀 go-pugleaf

In the referenced article, Joe Herman writes:
>Hi!  I'm curious as to how other institutions have implemented electronic
>mail on their campuses.  I have a couple of questions.

1) How does a user send mail (is special access required)

	Berkeley has many local ethernets, we use TCP/IP throughout.
	Berkeley is connected to the ARPA Internet, the BITNET, and
	the UUCP network.

	If you want to send mail to someone, pick a user agent (Mail,
	MH, Elm, etc.) and issue the mail sending command. Assuming
	that you addressed it correctly, it will get there. There are
	no bogus restrictions or permissions required.

2) How is authentication done?

	It isn't. Check your SMTP and TCP and UUCP, and you'll find
	that there is no implemented authentication system. But then,
	the U.S. Postal Service is no better, so you trust your mail.

3) Who is allowed to send electronic mail?
	
	Any user with an account can send to any other user on any
	other connected network (ARPANET, BITNET, UUCP, MAILNET, etc.)

4) What (if any) are the big problems to look out for.

	Inform users of #2, so they can watch out for spoofing.
	Educate the users to follow convention & network etiquette
	(e.g. sending mailing list administrative traffic to
	"list-request@host", rather than "list@host"), and understand
	what constitutes proper use of the mail system (a file transfer
	system it ain't, so mailing multi-megabyte files is discouraged,
	for example). Get them to understand that their use of the
	mail system reflects on them, and your institution, and
	depending upon the rules, misuse of some of the networks can
	get your institution disconnected.

Generally, when users have been properly educated in the use of the
medium, they behave responsibly. However, on the off chance that you do
end up with a pathological individual who refuses to be reasonable, be
sure that you have the power to take positive administrative action,
and be sure that this possibility is clear to all users before you
start, so that you don't get an offender screaming, "But I didn't KNOW!"

	Erik E. Fair	ucbvax!fair	fair@ucbarpa.berkeley.edu