The IP issue is murkier than the civil right issue that started this thread. Adobe is a US company, and bound by the ADA, just as much as movie theater companies etc.
In the US, it is a violation of federal law to discriminate against someone based on a disability -- such as impared vision (the topical functionality in this case -- even addressing the "reading by software" concept.) The law even requires that you take proactive steps to make "reasonable accomodation" for people with disabilities, so, even assuming that this restriction only applies to synthetically generated speach, Adobe is on very shaky ground.
I'd be willing to bet that they'll be getting a love note from the DOJ reminding them of this little point. On second thought, maybe we should help out here -- you can contact these fine people at the ADA enforcment page here: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/enforce.htm#anchor218 282
Sauce for the goose, and all.
Good article, but there's a simpler way of stating the problem:
1. No thinking person should allow anyone else to decide what he is, or is not going
to accept as e-mail: not my ISP, not my lawyer, and not even the good folks running the RBL.
The problem is with not taking the trouble to make sure that your ISP isn't taking any liberties:
this is actually quite easy to do, given the competitive nature of this particular business. So, the
decision to use the RBL or not should be jealously guarded, and not ceded to others. Simple.
2. The thing about the RBL that is most annoying is that they cloak themselves in the veil of
rightousness, when they're just offering advice. They're basically saying "Hey, here's a list of
people who we think contribute to spam in one way or annother, so you may want to reject mail from them
on your server". Oh, and by the way, there are some criteria we use to decide... they're pretty
broad, but take a look, and decide for yourself.
If you don't agree, don't use the list. It's that simple.
Oh, and yes, you DO have a choice. It's not an excuse to say that you rely on your employer's
system, or your school's or whoever's server to get your mail. You don't have the right to
the free use of someone else's property (this includes their servers, wires, IR ports, or whatever)--
just get yourself a dial-up connection to an ISP that does not use the RBL. Oh, and it would be big
news to hear that the backbone routers are rejecting all traffice from RBL'd IPs -- as far as I can tell,
this just ain't so.
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The IP issue is murkier than the civil right issue that started this thread. Adobe is a US company, and bound by the ADA, just as much as movie theater companies etc. In the US, it is a violation of federal law to discriminate against someone based on a disability -- such as impared vision (the topical functionality in this case -- even addressing the "reading by software" concept.) The law even requires that you take proactive steps to make "reasonable accomodation" for people with disabilities, so, even assuming that this restriction only applies to synthetically generated speach, Adobe is on very shaky ground. I'd be willing to bet that they'll be getting a love note from the DOJ reminding them of this little point. On second thought, maybe we should help out here -- you can contact these fine people at the ADA enforcment page here: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/enforce.htm#anchor218 282
Sauce for the goose, and all.
Good article, but there's a simpler way of stating the problem: 1. No thinking person should allow anyone else to decide what he is, or is not going to accept as e-mail: not my ISP, not my lawyer, and not even the good folks running the RBL. The problem is with not taking the trouble to make sure that your ISP isn't taking any liberties: this is actually quite easy to do, given the competitive nature of this particular business. So, the decision to use the RBL or not should be jealously guarded, and not ceded to others. Simple. 2. The thing about the RBL that is most annoying is that they cloak themselves in the veil of rightousness, when they're just offering advice. They're basically saying "Hey, here's a list of people who we think contribute to spam in one way or annother, so you may want to reject mail from them on your server". Oh, and by the way, there are some criteria we use to decide ... they're pretty
broad, but take a look, and decide for yourself.
If you don't agree, don't use the list. It's that simple.
Oh, and yes, you DO have a choice. It's not an excuse to say that you rely on your employer's
system, or your school's or whoever's server to get your mail. You don't have the right to
the free use of someone else's property (this includes their servers, wires, IR ports, or whatever)--
just get yourself a dial-up connection to an ISP that does not use the RBL. Oh, and it would be big
news to hear that the backbone routers are rejecting all traffice from RBL'd IPs -- as far as I can tell,
this just ain't so.