I agree with much of what Brent says.
However, I would like to stress that the use of port 465 for SMTPS has
been deprecated since 1998
<http://www.imc.org/ietf-apps-tls/mail-archive/msg00204.html>. That's 13
years ago.The port 465/tcp has now been reassigned to another protoco
<http://www.iana.org/assignments/service-names-port-numbers/service-names-port-numbers.xml>l.
Namely, it is used by RendezVous, a local LAN specific protocol, which
should not spill over the Internet. In that sense, P&T has a point when
stating that 465 should not be used for e-mail. I guess they place it in
the same league as other LAN-specific protocols like NETBIOS, which most
ISPs also block. The fact that many e-mail providers still allow 465 is
unfortunate. They really should update their configuration. It is
difficult to argue that the service is broken. However, P&T could be
more relaxed.
This being said, I have yet to see one residential ISP which clearly
advertises which services are blocked. At the very least, that would
make the contractual relationship clearer.
Best,
Patrick Vande Walle
On 16/03/13 06:33, Brent Frère wrote:
I think such a filtered/broken by design/limited
Internet access is
just not compliant with what is called "an Internet access".
You should then complain about the unconformity of the delivered service.
by
More than that, by acting on base of the bytes located _after_ the IP
header (the protocol layer and more precisely the TCP port fields),
EPT is accessing _your_ data and not the data they must access to
provide the service.
Indeed, to provide an IP service, the processing of the IP header is
sufficient. The remaining data is _yours_ and should fall under the
rules applicable to communications (letters, phone, telex, ...).
Without legal obligations/authorisation to do so, they shouldn't be
allowed to even look at it. They have right to collect information
useful to _protect their network_ (security issues, such as checking
if the IP packet is not intentionally corrupted to harm some of their
devices) or to _invoice you_ (such as counting the amount of bytes
transferred, the timestamps of aDSL connections, ...)
At Internet Society Luxembourg <http://isoc.lu>, we already discussed
about cases like this one, and we are in favour of some _optional_
limitations, even activated by default, as soon as they can be removed
on simple request. As example, most of the end-users are not running
SMTP servers or relays at home, so it could be acceptable that port 25
is blocked by default, as long as it is opened on single request. This
policy is followed by some ISPs in Luxembourg.
Here, aside of the unconformity of the service and the violation of
your privacy, there is a third aspect: the forced sales of a service,
which is also illegal. Indeed, by blocking your possibility to access
a given service (here the e-mail service) provided by third parties on
the Internet, you are (more or less for the time being) forced to opt
for the EPT e-mail service. Even if it is free for the moment, it
could not last, especially if EPT Internet access customers have no
other choice any more. This implies also that any EPT customer would
be obliged to have their e-mails stored at some point in time on EPT
servers (privacy ?).
In some northern EU state, a telco (providing either genuine phone
service and Internet accesses) decided to _invoice the VoIP calls_
made through their Internet access !
Some years ago, the historical belgian telco (Belgacom) blocked
suddenly access to the directory inquiries service in Luxembourg,
forcing their customer to call their own "International Directory
Service", at high rates.
Some other Internet access providers are looking for solutions to
reduce VoIP traffic quality, as example by introducing jitter in such
communications (1/3 of the international calls are already carried by
Skype alone).
This is against competition and progress, and is illegal. We should
struggle strongly on that.
This blocking of third parties e-mail services is also against the
free circulation of services, principle part of the EU treaties.
What I suggest is to discuss this with legal advisors, check carefully
the applicable legislation (legilux.lu), and organise an Internet
Society Luxembourg meeting around this to prepare our official reactions.
Depending on the conclusions, we might contact other parties, such as
ULC (Union Luxembourgeoise des Consommateurs), CNPD (Commission
nationale pour la protection des données), ILR (Institut
Luxembourgeois de Régulation), ... and write a letter to the ministers
in charge of either the telecommunication sector and economy
(concurrence aspects). We could even contact some specialised media to
make noise around this.
I strongly suggest all interested Internet user which wish to act on
what the Internet is today and what it should be tomorrow to also
seriously envisage joining Internet Society Luxembourg <http://isoc.lu>...
What do you think about this proposal ?
Le 08.03.2013 09:52, Michel Kohl a écrit :
> Hello,
>
> I am very disappointed...
> I have now some time ago a LuxFibre P&T Internet line.
> As soon as I had changed from LuxDSL to LuxFibre, outgoing SMTP w/
> SSL over Port 465 is not working any more.
>
> Because I am now in a situation where I would need to have this port
> open to send Emails by a third-party Email provider,
> I decided to call the P&T HelpDesk.
>
> They tried to explain that the port is not working due to technical
> reasons which are LuxFibre specific, and I shall use port 587
> (StartTLS).
> I told them that:
> 1. my third-party email provider does not have the port 587 open for
> SMTP
> 2. this is not acceptable. I pay for an Internet Access which shall
> not be limited by some blocked ports
>
> They just answered that they do not care.
> "Daat geht eis jo naischt un wann dier net den Service vun der Post
> benotzt"...
>
> What shall I do now?
> 1. asking my email provider to add and open the SMTP StartTLS service?
> 2. blame the P&T for their ignorance?
>
> I am sure that many people have this problem...?
>
> Best regards,
> Michel
> _______________________________________________
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