Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!hplabs!hp-pcd!uoregon!dboyes
From: dboyes@uoregon.UUCP (David Boyes)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc
Subject: Re: More BITNET stupidity
Message-ID: <1615@uoregon.UUCP>
Date: 28 Feb 88 00:14:29 GMT
References: <7136@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu< <1619@tulum.UUCP>
Reply-To: dboyes@drizzle.UUCP (David Boyes)
Organization: University of Oregon, Computer Science, Eugene OR
Lines: 55

In article <1619@tulum.UUCP> hirai@swatsun.uucp (Eiji "A.G." Hirai) writes:
>In article <7136@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu< karl@triceratops.cis.ohio-state.edu (Karl Kleinpaste) writes:
>[a lot of whining...]

I sent the following letter to Karl a few days ago. These messages are
legitimate and are caused by the software DOING THE RIGHT THING. The
software compares the real origin of the file with the address inside
the file -- if there is a difference AND the origin is not a trusted
source, then the software should notify you that someone is trying to
forge an article in your name. The message below explains the cause of
the messages.


----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Sorry for the slow response -- your mail only arrived this morning.

The reason  for the  error messages  you have  been receiving  is due  in some
degree to  the way mail and  newsgroups are gatewayed into  BITNET from Usenet
and the Internet.  Gateway points provide relay service, which  is then formed
into BITNET  mail messages  which are  introduced into  the store  and forward
network.  Each store  and forward  file has  an origin  ID attached  to it  --
essentially who transmitted it. When your messages for several newsgroups were
gatewayed into BITNET (about  a week and a half after you  wrote them -- thank
the comp.os.vms and  Info-VAX people for that) the link  between University of
Washington (UWAVM) and University of Oregon(OREGON1) was inoperative, causing
RSCS (the  network transmission  control program) to  hold files  destined for
OREGON1 until the link came back up.

The link was down for about a  day, causing a fair-sized buildup. The folks at
UW transferred  a lot ot  the files to another  userid, mainly to  allow other
traffic to live links to pass through.  The OREGON1 link came back up and they
began transferring  some of the  queued files  back to RSCS  for transmission.
Unfortunately, in  transferring them BACK to  RSCS, the origin ID  got munged,
thus causing all of  the mail daemons, mailing list servers,  etc. to send out
"possible bogus message"  warnings to me (the postmaster --  ever want to deal
with 2500 pieces  of mail in a  single day? The mind boggles....)  and to YOU,
the person that is ostensibly the one being impersonated.

That's the whole story. Sorry for any inconvenience.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The situation has been corrected.

*flame on*

To those of you who think our software is brain-damaged, AT LEAST IT
TRIES TO BE IMPOSTER-PROOF. RN certainly isn't.

*flame off*

-- 
David Boyes         | ARPA: 556%OREGON1.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Systems Division    | BITNET: 556@OREGON1
UO Computing Center | UUCP: dboyes@uoregon.UUCP
'How long d'ya think it'll be before just us oldtimers remember WISCVM?'