[PLUG] Question for the sysops -- IoT devices and email

[tim at wescottdesign.com]

Thanks John.  You've kind of summed up what I know -- at least I know I 
have it right.

Need to think of how to make it work as you said, without burdening any 
non-technical people with too much work.

On 2018-03-04 11:51, John Meissen wrote:
> Sending email is easy. The device simply connects to the MX host for 
> the
> destination (specified in the destination domain's DNS records) and 
> hands off
> the email.
> 
> The problems arise when ISPs block outgoing connections to port 25 (to 
> mitigate
> spam from compromised systems inside their network) and when mail 
> servers block
> incoming connections from sources such as dynamic IP addresses, 
> typically home
> Internet service, etc.
> 
> The only way around those issues is to route the email through a 
> trusted
> source, such as authenticating with the ISP's mail server or the 
> product
> manufacturer's hosted system.
> 
> tim at wescottdesign.com said:
>> 
>> If I sold you an IoT device that sent email, how would you want it to 
>> do
>> so?
>> 
>> I'm looking for the ideal compromise between minimum work programming
>> the thing, reliably getting emails to people who need them (i.e., not
>> getting caught in spam traps), and not asking the IT people at the
>> organization where the thing is installed to poke Great Big Holes in
>> their firewalls.
>> 
>> The command:
>> 
>> echo I can send mail from the Linux command line! | mail -s "This is a
>> mail message" -t timwescott0 at gmail.com
>> 
>> works when the underlying mail system is configured to claim that it's
>> sending from tim at wescottdesign.com -- but (A) if I send it to
>> tim at wescottdesign.com it gets caught in a spam trap at a low enough
>> level that I can't even find it in my filters, and (B) it just seems 
>> too
>> easy.
>> 
>> This is all with the heirloom-mailx package in Ubuntu 16.04.
>> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> PLUG mailing list
> PLUG at pdxlinux.org
> http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug