SMTP NIC Frequently Asked Questions

0. What is an SMTP NIC or SMTP Server?

   (E)SMTP = (Extended) Simple Mail Transport Protocol
   NIC     = Network Information Centre
   EMAIL   = Electronic Mail
   TCP     = Transmission Control Protocol
   IP      = Internet Protocol

   An SMTP Server is a process that runs on a computer to send and receive
   Electronic Mail with other SMTP Servers.  All internetworked sites must
   run some sort of SMTP Server to send and receive Electronic Mail via 
   TCP/IP.  There are other methods of send and receiving EMAIL (such as
   UUCP), but the registry is concerned only with SMTP over TCP/IP.

   (E)SMTP RFC initial numbers are 821, 1425, 1869. 

1. Isn't this just another white/black list?

   No, this is not a white or black list.  This is a list of all SMTP servers
   that have regsitered with the SMTPNIC to send email to other hosts.

   White and Black lists violate (in the most perverse interpretations) the
   Second Amendement.  While the Second Amendentment doesn't really apply
   to the entire world, it is important to note that the SMTP Registry only
   lists registered servers just as DNS Servers only list domain names.  It
   is up to the INTERNET community, not the registry, to determine whether a
   registered SMTP server is sending UCE.  The SMPTNIC is not interested in
   the content of EMAIL at all, but rather where the EMAIL originated from.

2. How is this supposed to help with UCE SPAM problems?

   Currently anyone who so desires can use a dialup or DSL connection and 
   run an SMTP server.  This is the origin of almost all UCE, because it
   is nearly untrackable and it would ultimately require subpoenas to
   several organisations (the ISP, the telephone carrier, et cetera) to
   track down the individual.  By the time that information is put 
   together, more than likely, the spammer has already moved on.

   What the registry would do is allow SMTP Servers to be mapped with 
   contact information so that the individual or organisation who registers
   their SMTP server will be trackable and contactable in the event that
   UCE is distributed through their service.

   SMTP servers can decided whether to accept email only from registered
   SMTP servers.  Today many SMTP servers already deny connections from
   dialup or DSL SMTP servers.  

3. If I'm a spammer, how do you stop me from lying about my contact info?

   There are methods of authentication that are either free or inexpensive.
   Also, the registry would require that the SMTP server have:

     * At least one static IP address
     * At least one FQDN (hostname and domain name) and PTR
     * Organisation name, address, telephone .. basic contact information

   Just as it takes a period of time to register a domain name, so would it
   be to register an SMTP server.  The idea is an organisation that wants to
   send/receive email legitimately and for the long term would not find this
   an inconvenience.  However, a spammer would find this frustrating.

4. How do you propose to convince admins to adopt the registry?

   We propose this as a USER movement as well as an admin movement.  There
   is no future in server/user end UCE filtering.  UCE continues to grow in
   volumes week after week.  We hope that users will petition their ISPs
   to adopt the registry rather than try to convince single site administrators
   that an SMTP registry is not only possible, but necessary. 

   The SMTPNIC is to be structured as a non-profit organisation with a
   membership elected, volunteer board of the directors.  The purpose of
   the board is to keep the SMPTNIC on charter with its non-profit cause
   and to represent the membership.  Other volunteer positions for day to
   day operations will be available to those members who wish to participate.

   (This is very important, especially for those of us who took for granted
    the volunteer work of SRI as the INTERNIC.  We feel that forming an
    organisation directed by its membership would perpetuate our mission).

5. This will never work!

   That's not a question.  Most of us currently involve with the SMTP NIC have
   been internetworking well before the commercialisation of the 'internet'
   (read that as prior to the early 1990s).  While many companies feel they
   have harnessed the internet (especially by appropriating networks paid by
   the tax payers and then resold back to them under steep leases), we are
   very optimistic that this user movement could put an end to UCE.

   An important thing to note as well is that there would be a much smaller
   number of SMTP servers in the registry than there are in the Domain Name
   registry.  

   With that said, we are open to ideas in the way that this system is 
   implemented.  We feel strongly that it could be easily implemented by
   using existing software and not trying to re-invent the wheel nor overly
   complicate things.  A minimalist, simplistic design is usually best.