In message <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask] writes:
> On Thu, 08 May 1997 11:28:14 EST, you said:
> > We run the MUSIC operating system as a guest under VM.  Today I received
> > the following reply when trying to send email from MUSIC via VM SMTP to
> > AOL.
> >
> > VM.NMU.EDU unable to deliver following mail to recipient(s):
> >     <[log in to unmask]>
> > VM.NMU.EDU received negative reply:
> > 553 <@VM.NMU.EDU:[log in to unmask]>... Source routed envelope sender
> >     rejected (See RFC 822, section 6.2.7)
> >
> > Has anyone else seen anything like this?  It was working last week and
> > its my "belief" that I didn't change anything...

I too have seen this. We use ZMailer, a somewhat popular MTA written by
Rayan Zachariassen. ZMailer routinely inserts source routing information in
the envelope From: entries when it is used as a mail relay. Many Internet
sites still use "smart-hosts" for off-site mail delivery. I suspect that AOL
is suddenly bouncing alot of mail.

> We   have been informed by   Brad Knowles of   AOL  that they consider
> section 7.5 of draft-ietf-drums-smtpupd-04.txt (still in draft status)
> to be more important than RFC1123, which is in full standard status.

This section talks about "use of the relay function through arbitrary
sites". However, AOL's solution is also blocking *legitimate* use of the
relay function. Internet firewalls and site-wide smart hosts are a couple of
examples of legitimate uses.

I run a mailing list from a machine at home, connected to the Internet via a
skinny pipe. I forward messages from the list to my ISPs smart-host, and let
them do the expansion of the message into multiple copies. That allows me to
preserve the bandwidth of my connection, and actually increases reliability
(since my ISP pays more attention to host uptimes than I do).

My ISP uses ZMailer (sense a pattern here?). AOL is now denying mail to some
of my subscribers as a result of my attempts to *legitimately* use SMTP
relays. My requests to postmaster have so far been met with silence; I've
recommended that my subscribers switch ISPs :-).

I realize that AOL is simply responding to customer requests to eliminate
spam. However, they've over-stepped the boundary between that and keeping
legitimate e-mail flowing.

--
Harald Koch <[log in to unmask]>