Email delivery by service provider

[BOAC]

I've been having a 'nag' at mine for sending emails to me when they are addressed to a 'generic' address, eg as below:

Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Delivered-To: [email protected] There is my email address
Received: (qmail 95315 invoked from network); 11 Dec 2005 16:54:49 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO qm02.yyyyyyyyyy.net) (212.67.121.107)
by qm12 with SMTP; 11 Dec 2005 16:54:49 -0000
Received: (qmail 64506 invoked from network); 11 Dec 2005 16:54:40 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO aykuh.gov) (65.190.130.230)
by qm02 with SMTP; 11 Dec 2005 16:54:44 -0000
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Date: Sun, 11 Dec 2005 16:40:43 UTC
Subject: You visit illegal websites


Not NORMALLY a problem , but with all the virus mails plus all the spam around at the moment, it is very tedious.

Aha, they say, you should 'filter' these emails.

So, the questions are:-

how does a 'generic' email like that get sent to a personal address?

are THEY doing everything they can to stop the spread of this stuff?

should I be really have to place x hundred filter rules to stop this?

surely any 'generic' address which is NOT on the provider's list should be blocked?

should I keep on nagging?

[drauk]

how does a 'generic' email like that get sent to a personal address?

The "To" field, listed in the mail headers, is not what the MTA uses to determine to whom to deliver the mail. The recipient is specified by the sender during the SMTP conversation between the two servers. So the sender puts one thing in the "To" field, but tells your ISP's server to deliver the mail to you, which it does. Anyone can put anything in the "To" header.

are THEY doing everything they can to stop the spread of this stuff?

Who knows? An ISP getting paid next-to-nothing is unlikely to be interested in setting up custom mail-handling for a customer.[/quote]

should I be really have to place x hundred filter rules to stop this?

If your mail client is sophisticated enough you could set up rule which says "reject anything where my exact email address is not listed in the 'to' header".

surely any 'generic' address which is NOT on the provider's list should be blocked?

Not quite sure what you mean by a generic address, but the explanation above describes what is happening. Your ISP aren't doing anything wrong - they are just delivering mail that was addressed to you.

should I keep on nagging?

I doubt they'll listen.

[BOAC]

Thanks! That's cheering! I'll have a look at that filter.

The "To" field, listed in the mail headers, is not what the MTA uses to determine to whom to deliver the mail. The recipient is specified by the sender during the SMTP conversation between the two servers. So the sender puts one thing in the "To" field, but tells your ISP's server to deliver the mail to you, which it does. Anyone can put anything in the "To" header.

- freely confess to being ABSOLUTELY non-plussed by that!

Who knows? An ISP getting paid next-to-nothing is unlikely to be interested in setting up custom mail-handling for a customer.

- was thinking more about larger responsibilities!!

I doubt they'll listen.

- I'll stop