Re: IP Black list? -- NONONONONONONONO!!!

[pauls () UTDALLAS EDU (Paul L Schmehl)]

--On Monday, May 15, 2000 4:22 PM -0600 Michael Merideth
<mikem () CRAVETECHNOLOGY COM> wrote:

> If you want to be
> ultra-paranoid about portscans, install portsentry.  Don't hand control
> of your routers over to some alien organization, no matter how benign
> and trustworthy it seems.

It's amazing to me how many people completely miss the point of blocking
services.  Methods like the RBL are completely voluntary.  No one forces
you to use them, and if you find you don't like them, you just drop the
service.

Furthermore, you are not "handing over" control of your network to someone
else.  It's your router, and you configure it to use or not use the
services that are available.  You can implement filters that ignore certain
listings in the RBL if you must do business with those networks.  You are
always in complete control of your own routers.

Implementing a list like this is not "taking over" anything.  It's simply
making another service available for admins to use, if they choose to.  And
it beats the hell out of every admin on the earth implementing their own
"custom" blocks.

If you were blackholed for abuse on your network, which would you prefer?
Notifying one source that the problem was resolved?  Or attempting to
notify every admin in the world that had blocked you at their routers?

The answer seems obvious to me.

Paul L. Schmehl, pauls () utdallas edu
Technical Support Services Manager
The University of Texas at Dallas