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Re: LDAP / MTA integration
On Wed, Apr 07, 1999 at 04:57:39PM -0500, Paul Makepeace wrote:
> The UIUC who produced the 'qi' suite (PH query interpreter) bundle a neat
> program called phquery which trys to figure out someone's email address
> given an alias by doing fuzzy queries against a PH server using PH name &
> alias. phquery also tries tricks like remapping . (dot) to _ (underscore)
> to help. It's discussed at:
I have had to *remove* this capability from several email systems at large ISP's.
Consider the ramifications of delivering email to the wrong address.
In a situation where you are selling services you may be setting yourself
up to be sued if someones mail gets mis-directed and delivered to the wrong
person.
In a small private domain for a corporate use I would hate to have to
explain to the CEO or CFO why some sensitive strategic email got delivered
to the wrong address.
In a large email population you start getting problems where an address that
used to fuzzy match to someone ceases to work because either someone has
that address or someone else is now a "better" match. These tend to cause
confusion and end up as (expensive) calls to the support desk.
I have also seen systems that used fuzzy matching to send back a suggested
list of addresses to try. In light of current internet conditions this can
lead to people using it to collect addresses for SPAM. Or to try and find
people who don't want their address or existance to be published (breach of
privacy.)
Email works best if it is consistant and reliable. Fuzzy matching isn't.
--
Stuart Lynne <sl@fireplug.net> 604-461-7532 <http://edge.fireplug.net>
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