Re: Comcast Response

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Ronald J Riley (RJR-com) [rjr () rjriley com]
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2008 7:42 PM
To: David Farber
Subject: RE: [IP] Comcast Response

Dave, for IP if you wish.

I think that Declan Forde is blowing smoke on behalf of Comcast.

When I inquired about port 25 being blocked on my account they gave me the
you're broadcasting spam line.  So after explaining that I have a hardware
firewall (inherently more secure than a software firewall), that every
computer is running PcCillin, and that I am an experienced user who is
unlikely to have an infected computer I asked them to send me the headers of
the spam they claimed was originating within my network. They told me
someone would call me the next day about the issue.  They never made the
call.

I have about a dozen email accounts being serviced by two different hosted
servers.

I do not think that Comcast is blocking port 25 based on spams.  I do think
that they are blocking port 25 when it is being used to send email to
servers other than theirs.

At this time I do not have a viable alternative to Comcast.  The same was
true with Verizon some years ago, and I had no choice except to have three
landlines with them.  Today I other alternatives, and there is only one
Verizon line.

Comcast wasted a great deal of my time.  I will broom them as soon as doing
so is in my interest.

I think that Comcast is both incompetent and arrogant!

Ronald J. Riley,

Speaking on my own behalf.
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.patentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder
Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 9 pm EST.


-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net]
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2008 9:22 AM
To: ip
Subject: [IP] Comcast Response


________________________________________
From: Forde, Declan [Declan_Forde () cable comcast com]
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 10:29 PM
To: David Farber
Subject: Comcast Response

Dave,



We have seen the flurry of posts about Comcast and e-mail blocking and
customer communications.  I would like to take this opportunity to provide
Comcast's position on these comments.



As part our ongoing efforts to reduce spam, Comcast blocks Port 25 on those
computers that have been identified as a spam relay and are being exploited
by spammers to send large volumes of unwanted email. The comments in the
thread suggest that we do not communicate with customers when we block Port
25. In fact, we send an email to the impacted customer to let them know what
has happened and provide instructions on how to easily switch to the more
secure Port 587. In many cases, our customers are appreciative of this
proactive approach to securing their computer.



It is also suggested that we do not provide any information on Comcast.net
to assist customers with this issue. Please take a look at the following FAQ
which answers anticipated customer questions and provides a One Click Fix
for our customers to easily switch to Port 587:
http://www.comcast.net/help/faq/index.jsp?faq=Email118989#25



Blocking of Port 25 is a common practice among ISP's and it is endorsed by
the FTC as an effective means to reduce spam generated by zombies. Please
see: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/zombie/index.htm



We are targeting only known infected computers and do not block Port 25 for
all customers. Blocking of port 25 is not new for Comcast. We have been
using this targeted approach for about 4 years and it continues to help
reduce spam while also minimizing the impact on our customers.



I hope these comments are helpful.



Declan


Declan Forde
Snr. Director of Security
Comcast


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