Re: Emacs 21.2, smtpmail and vm

["Stefan Monnier <foo@acm.com>" <monnier+gnu.emacs.help/news/@flint.cs.yale.edu>]

>> Could anybody give me the skinny about "why would an ISP require SMTP AUTH"?
> Isn't the answer the same as why authentication is required it all, in
> any protocol?

I'd only buy that if its use were systematic, which it obviously isn't.

> If you are thinking that ISPs should use IP based ACLs to allow
> relaying for their customers, it's not going to work with todays
> computer habits (people travel with their laptop and expect the mail
> server to continue to work).

By "laptop" you mean "those things with small screens and shallow
keyboards"?  I must admit I don't know enough of how those things work
when you try to use the Internet away from home (or office).
But it seems you'll need to get your IP from some ISP which is responsible
for routing to/from your IP and which has a mail server which you should
be able to use (like you probably use their DNS server).  And given such
a context, it seems that IP-based authentication would be pretty safe
for SMTP.


        Stefan