Source
Automatically imported from: http://commons.somewhere.com:80/rre/1997/Pegasus.mail.again.html
Content
This web service brought to you by Somewhere.Com, LLC.
Pegasus mail again
``` [Note that the second of these messages, which is highly recommended, was sent on Wednesday, New Zealand time. No sooner did David Harris, highly principled software developer, add features to Pegasus Mail that made it easy to detect spam sent with his program than the US Government, in the very CIAC alert whose URL I provided in a message the other day, declared Pegasus to be spam software, leading many people to set their mail filters to reject all messages that are sent with it. Likewise, when Sanford Wallace and his partners announced that they were setting up a company to create a spam-friendly Internet backbone, anti-spammers started calling people whose names are similar to those of Wallace's partners, and people whose company names are similar to Wallace's, on the telephone at 4AM. (Source: news.com.) Fortunately those people happen to hate spam as much as anybody. Still, damage was done to the cause. Lesson to be learned: In the war against spam, it is really important to Get Your Facts Straight. You shouldn't let that stop you from reporting suspicious spam messages to the appropriate authorities, however. Just stick with the facts that you know for sure (e.g., that you received a particular message and found it suspicious), and that will be plenty.]
---
This message was forwarded through the Red Rock Eater News Service (RRE). Send any replies to the original author, listed in the From: field below. You are welcome to send the message along to others but please do not use the "redirect" command. For information on RRE, including instructions for (un)subscribing, send an empty message to rre-help@weber.ucsd.edu
---
Date sent: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 21:20:45 +1200 From: David Harris Send reply to: Pegasus Mail Announcements Organization: Pegasus Mail, Dunedin, New Zealand Subject: Impending release of WinPMail v2.55 To: PM-NEWS@UA1VM.UA.EDU
Within the next 72 hours, we will be releasing Pegasus Mail for Windows v2.55: this version will be identical to the current formal v2.54 release except that it will not generate headers in outgoing messages that identify the message as having been sent using Pegasus Mail.
I deeply regret having to take this step, since some of the headers we have removed are valuable diagnostic tools for us; but the simple reality here is that through ignorance, many people have begun associating Pegasus Mail with spam and that is simply not a tenable position for us. It is patently unreasonable to have millions of legitimate Pegasus Mail users handicapped by the antisocial actions of a tiny fraction of one percent of the userbase, and even worse, by the ignorance of people who should know better but have not taken the time to become properly-informed. Note that Pegasus Mail WILL continue to generate its spam-identification "X- Distribution:" headers, so filtering schemes based on these reasonable mechanisms will continue to work.
What really burns me up most about this whole issue is the way that I keep getting victimized through trying to be a responsible developer. Statistics we have gathered on spam indicate that nearly as many spams are sent with Eudora and Netscape respectively as are sent with Pegasus Mail, yet you don't see ISPs refusing to pass mail from them... I'm tired of being the whipping boy for a problem that is social in nature, not technical. Spam is not currently illegal, and there's basically nothing anyone can do about it until it becomes illegal.
We strongly urge all current v2.54 users to download v2.55 when it becomes available, so that they will not be affected by the maverick filtering actions of a few ill-informed people.
Cheers!
-- David --
------------------ David Harris -+- Pegasus Mail
---
Box 5451, Dunedin, New Zealand | e-mail: David.Harris@pmail.gen.nz Phone: +64 3 453-6880 | Fax: +64 3 453-6612
Thought for the day: Erotic (adj): using a feather as a sex aid. Kinky (adj): using the whole duck.
Date sent: Wed, 26 Nov 1997 01:52:34 +1200
From: David Harris
Pegasus Mail for Windows v2.55 is now available from the following sites:
Via FTP: risc.ua.edu, in /pegasus (North America) ftp.let.rug.nl in /pegasus (Europe) ftp.usm.maine.edu, in /pub/network/pegasus (North America) pegasus.topnz.ac.nz, in /pegasus (South Pacific)
If using a web browser, use these URLs: http://risc.ua.edu/pegasus http://www.let.rug.nl/pegasus ftp://ftp.usm.maine.edu/pub/network/pegasus ftp://pegasus.topnz.ac.nz/pegasus
Both 16- and 32-bit versions are available: the filenames are WINPM255.EXE for the 16-bit version, and W32-255.EXE for the 32-bit version.V2.55 is identical to the v2.54 release except that it no longer generates the following headers in outgoing Internet mail:
X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail [version]
Comments: Authenticated sender is
The reason these headers have been removed is because some Internet Service Providers and System Administrators have begun using them to reject or filter out mail in the mistaken belief that Pegasus Mail is a package designed for the distribution of "spam" (unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail). Clearly we cannot tolerate a situation where Pegasus Mail and its users are victimized through ignorance - the viability of the program could be in question if such indiscriminate rejection were permitted to occur.
A part of the basis for this discrimination is a recent bulletin from CIAC (the U.S. Department of Energy's Computer Incident Alert service) in which Pegasus Mail was erroneously described as a bulk mail package. The author of that bulletin has now indicated that this was an error and that he will reissue the bulletin. Unfortunately, the damage has largely been done.
We believe that the amount of mail affected by this kind of descriminatory filtering is very small at present, but are releasing v2.55 as a means of circumventing the problem where it arises. If you are not currently having any problems with rejection of your mail (the likely scenario for the vast majority of users) then v2.55 gains you no advantages over v2.54 and you need not download it.
To say that I am angry and upset that it should be necessary for me to make this release is a terrific understatement - especially since I am currently the ONLY major e-mail developer with a strong anti-spam stance. It seems preposterous and ironic to me that I alone seem to have been singled out in this way.
Now that spam has done me and my users real, personal damage, my loathing of it, and the people who so blithely dump it on the Internet without any concern for whom they may inconvenience or hurt has deepened, as has my resolve to find ways of doing what I can to combat it. But I stress that I believe firmly that spam is a social problem and cannot be overcome by technical means - it can only be dealt with through the normal channel of social regulation, the law.
It is my hope that this will only be a temporary measure, and that I will be able to restore the X-Mailer header in particular in an upcoming revision, once this issue has been properly resolved. Pegasus Mail has carried its X-Mailer header proudly to all parts of the world for nearly eight years now, and I feel a profound loss at removing it.
I appreciate the expressions of support I have received from my userbase in response to my previous postings on this matter - I apologise if many of you did not receive a personal response, but I was essentially overwhelmed by the volume. In light of this, although I am deeply appreciative of your solicitude, I would ask that you do not send me supportive messages for this announcement - I really, really need to get on and start doing some real work again, having effectively wasted more than a week struggling with these issues.
Once again, my thanks to all for their ongoing support and for understanding the reasons why I have had to take such an unusual and painful step in making this release.
-- David Harris -- Author/Owner, Pegasus Mail System.
------------------ David Harris -+- Pegasus Mail -------------------------- Box 5451, Dunedin, New Zealand | e-mail: David.Harris@pmail.gen.nz Phone: +64 3 453-6880 | Fax: +64 3 453-6612
Real newspaper headlines from US Papers: "State to punish duck violators". ```
This web service brought to you by Somewhere.Com, LLC.