Re: question in havana

Dear Mike,
Greetings from Trieste, Italy.

Well, we would like to thank you for being users of www4mail.

Let start by saying that it is disturbing to know that someone is
restricting access to www4mail.

Question 1:
As for secret addresses for www4mail servers, there are non that I know
of.

Question 2:

www4mail security:
a. www4mail maintains a private list banned sites (also called Access
Control List ACL). Using such a list it has been possible to filter out
some of the ponographic sites. 

b. In addition to that www4mail performs dynamic scanning of each HTML
document (before sending)  for one of a series of keywords, if it finds a
match then it prevents access to the site. It could also optionally update
it's ACL. This has filtered out more of such site.

c. Also every binary file that is transferred, www4mail will check to main
page of the Site using the above 2 rules and if it finds a match, access
to the site/file is denied.

Using the above techniques, it has been possible to deny access to most of
the ponographic sites or sites that carry adult related material.


Finally,
The main objective for creating www4mail was to provide access to the web
for scientist from developing countries, although only 20% of the daily
usage is for education sites.
Personally, I am deeply disturbed whenever anyone tries to use the gateway
for accessing ponographic sites and as the primary developer (author) of
www4mail, I am constantly trying to find ways of improving the security
or preventing the abuse of the server.

Maybe we can persuade the Infomed operators to setup/configure  a private
www4mail server. This way all request from their registered users
will go to that server:

I would like to say that www4mail was built to be  fully configurable,
this means that

1. one can setup a private server that can cater for the needs of one or
more domains.

2. it can be configured to use a WEB proxy server for accessing the web
	In which case you can configure which sites are accessed.
	Note: you can also do the same function with www4mail's ACL.

Well, if the problem is financial, i.e  they are interested in selling 
you full web access then there is little you and I can do..
 

Thanks
Clement Onime


On Sat, 9 Oct 1999, mike fuller wrote:

> Greetings!
> 
> My name is Michael Fuller and I'm the English editor for
> the Prensa Latina's international magazine "Avances Medicos"
> here in Havana.
> 
> My partner is a psychologist in Cuba's Public Health (MINSAP)
> system.
> 
> Our email only server is Infomed -- another UNDP collaborator
> I'm sure of which I'm sure you've heard.
> 
> We have been faithful users (addicts?) of www4mail for some time
> now, especially since Infomed's Medline access is limited to
> summaries only.
> 
> A couple of weeks ago I downloaded 50 complete articles on
> "Menopause and Sexuality" (Adriana's Masters thesis) from www4,
> whereas from Infomed I could only have retrieved summaries, and
> definitely less.
> 
> I'm writing now because, due to internal problems, Infomed has
> received a mandate from MINSAP to shut off all access to the
> www4, angora, etc. servers (it's a long story).
> 
> So I'd like to ask you two things :
> 
> 1. Are there any alternative (secret) access addresses apart
> from the Bellanet, Ungasha and Trieste ones? something that can
> get past Infomed's firewall?
> 
> 2. What are your own internal security filters?
> 
> Regarding my first question I have to say that my PPP address
> is:     mikadri@infomed.sld.cu
> 
> Regarding the second I'd like to say that I will share with the
> Infomed folks any specs you give me that could allay their fears
> about security.
> 
> I suspect it is redundant for them to limit access to a free
> webmail server with already existing controls (specifically anti-
> porn) plus a limit on hits-per-week to avoid abuse.
> 
> Thank you so much for all you've provided and if I never
> download from y'all again, it has been a pure pleasure.
> 
> Mike in Havana
>

Received on Monday, 12 July 1999 03:54:07 UTC