[Freedombox-discuss] Email on the FreedomBox Discussion
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"John Walsh" <fiftyfour at waldevin.com> writes:
> What techniques do ISP's use to prevent users from having their own email
> service?
There are three problems:
1. ISPs sometimes block the SMTP port (port 25).
2. Email (receiving) servers don't accept email from dynamic IPs.
3. Email (delivering) servers have a hard time delivering mail to
dynamic IPs.
> What did you do to by-pass these ISP techniques (please include in
> recipe)?
Structurally, all the problems are solvable. Problems 1 and 2 can have
a combined solution.
Solving problems 1 & 2:
Use a smart host with a static IP to deliver the mail. If the smart
host allows for anonymous mailing, it'll be used for spam and
blacklisted like the dynamic IPs really quickly.
So, we have another requirement for this to work: authentication (this
isn't necessarily identification).
We can meet this requirement creatively. A solution I like uses
Monkeysphere and a Freedombox-user web of trust. A pre-installed list
of smart hosts accept (and thus deliver) mail from users in the FBX-U
WOT. Getting set up in the FBX-U WOT could be part of the FBX setup
process.
Any Debian system can be pre-configured to deliver to smart hosts, just
run:
dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config
If the smart host accepts mail either through encrypted connections
(aided by Monkeysphere?) or on a non-standard port, we've probably
mitigated the ISP's blocking.
Solving problem 3:
This is the easiest problem: just get your FBX a domain name through
whatever method you prefer. Obscure domain names (.bit) or highly dynamic IPs
might cause trouble, but DynDNS and similar services do a good job
handling that.
Or, you could partner with a friend or FBX mail receiving service and
let them deal with that detail (think: FBX-GMail).
Or, we could use some sort of hybrid solution, where part of the domain
name directs communication to the Freedombox-cloud uplink and a dynamic
name service within the cloud directs messages from there. I don't want
to say "cloud", but I can't think of any other term. That centralizes
services in the network, though.
> Now, if anybody else has email specific issues or even better FBX
> email recipes, please contribute. I will even write up the recipes on
> the FBX wiki for you if you post your recipe to this thread ;)
I realize these aren't recipes for getting email on every FBX by
default, but I hope I helped clarify the issues at hand so that we can
debate the merits of solutions and get to a recipe that allows FBXs to
be unboxed, email-ready.
Setting up an FBX that can email by default probably implies setting up
some smart hosts as infrastructure for the FBX network.
Nick
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