>>>>> JC == Joseph Carter [2001-1-18]
JC> On Wed, Jan 17, 2001 at 10:52:03AM +0100, Davide G. M. Salvetti wrote:
>> I think you know how to access incoming: just try and install the
>> package, then you could easily see for yourself what it does.
JC> I likely won't do that because my concerns are moral as well as
JC> technical.
Well, then, by all means, don't install MimeFilter. However, it may
actually be a little too much to pretend to know how it works, if you
don't even look at it. ;-)
JC> Perhaps so, but I've always felt that documented policies were
JC> better than filtering software. Filtering is never the right
JC> answer.
It works for me. YMMV.
JC> If I send a vcard attachment, your software will by default throw it
JC> out.
Of course: I don't like vcards. :-)
JC> What if I was sending it for a reason?
It's very simple, Joseph: you talk to the moderator/listmaster and
convince her that you have a reason to send vcards to the list. Then
she could easily add text/vcard to the list of admissible MIME types
(which, BTW, is of course separately customizable for different lists)
and you'll be all right. If you fail to convince her, well, it's hers
list, not yours.
JC> How about if I attached a small snippet of C source code to a
JC> message for people's opinion? How about if it was a piece of HTML
JC> or something?
Foreach my $item ("C code", "HTML", "Whatever you want, regexps too") {
&apply_the_above_answer($item);
}
JC> Perhaps you feel you can make the determination that such things are
JC> either appropriate or not and if it's your list software you have
JC> that right.
Well, exactly, I both feel and do.
JC> You can do it, but that doesn't necessarily mean you should.
It's your choice to decide. Only you may be right.
JC> I do hope this software at least has the decency to include a header
JC> or footer on messages it modifies so you know that it has been
JC> eating mail and that at least part of the message has been sucked
JC> into oblivian.
But of course, Joseph: MimeFilter sends a helpful warning to the
original author, (optionally) to the moderator of the list, and insert a
(MIME compliant text/plain type) note in the message it outputs stating
which part was there (which MIME type, to be precise), and that it has
been stripped as it wasn't admissible.
It's even documented in the man page. If you have any further interest
perhaps I could send that to you, since you appear to believe that just
installing it on your system may be Evil (no, it won't eat your socks,
but it could steal you're girlfriend if don't watch its moves). ;-)
Cheers,
--
Davide Giovanni Maria Salvetti
W: http://www.linux.it/~salve/
OpenPGP (GPG) Key ID: 939686D5