[wildcard-comments] Wildcard DNS email considerations
I sent a test email to a known invalid address. This is what returned when the email bounced back: ---------------------------------------------------------- From: POSTMASTER@xxxxxxxxxx To: <Whitecat@xxxxxxxxxx> Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2003 19:40:40 -0500 Message-ID: <106514164001@xxxxxxxxxx> X-AutoResponder: mailer-daemon Subject: Mail status report MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/report; report-type=delivery-status; boundary="106514164001@xxxxxxxxxx/E" X-Rcpt-To: <Whitecat@xxxxxxxxxx> Return-Path: <> X-DPOP: Version number supressed X-UIDL: 1065141649.532811 Status: U When trying to deliver your message, the mail server at xspedius.net encountered permanent problems with the following address: For <abcxyz@xxxxxxxxxxx>, the destination server said: <unknown[20x.19x.4x.2x]>: Client host rejected: The domain you are trying to send mail to does not exist. (from xsxsxsx.com: 64.94.110.11) ---------------------------------------------------------- Please note that I changed my email and the I/P address to protect my privacy. The one address I did not change was the 64.94.110.11. This is Verisign's mail I/P address. Verisign had to setup an email account to bounce the email from at this I/P address, or my ISP's computer would have locked up trying to resolve the DNS entry for my bad email. What guarantee of certainty do I have that Verisign is not harvesting valid email addresses from bounced emails, and then selling them to various email producing companies that send out what is commonly called 'spam'? I certainly never signed any kind of agreement with Verisign, either on paper, or electronically to allow them access to my email address. But yet, by creating the wildcard DNS entry, they have given themselves access to my email address without my permission. This wildcard DNS entry abuses my own ability to opt in or opt out of any kind of email services. If you consider how many bounced emails happen within a single day, and you would consider how many valid email addresses could be harvested by this approach, you will see that this is a very serious matter that concerns anyone anywhere with an email account. Regards, F. Williams Louisiana |