From Bob's blog post:

Try reading the service status posting!

http://usertools.plus.net...us/archive/1195665661.htm

(If you have not set yourself up to receive these by email you can do so here)

Thanks Jelv, I just subscribed to the RSS feed, I hope that the spam training also includes the hosted domains and not just the @plus.com.

Will subscribing to the Postini trial reduce the number of genuine emails that are being lost at present (ticket 23446256)?

No, not initially although further down the line (early next year?) we hope to offer Postini's quarantining service.


Again, not initially but this is where we hoping to head.


Introduced at a later date. To start with Postini will just be blocking the obvious stuff at the edge of the network. This means that you should receive *less* spam. The second step will be to activate subject line tagging which should hopefully then reduce the instances where spam gets through unmarked.


To begin with the Dspam processes will still be in place (it's Dspam that's is marking your mail incorrectly).

Further down the line though, we may well be able to do away with Dspam in its entirety. You should be aware of the work that got postponed this morning. Once this is rolled out you should see less occurrences of this. The changes will take a week or so to bed in though.


Take a look at my reply here. This should be fixed early next week.

Sorry if i'm being think....   

Will the new postinis also sit between y SMTP server and the outside world?

In other words, doe SMTP users benefit from any spam reduction?

Oh, and is anyone else getting loads of Russian stuff?  I can' read russian, but they seems to be advers for houses, tyres, and all sorts.

Could you explain "obvious stuff"?  If it is to be blocked at the edge and not available for viewing (or in a log) then what is the chance of "obvious stuff" being ham?

I've read the Blog post... but am still not clear.

What is the basis on which the Postini solution identifies SPAM?

It seems there is some degree of user control for the final rollout. What can be controled?

For customers who switch off SPAM filtering will ALL email be delivered? (and not have DNS re-directed to Postini) If not what will still be rejected?

Postini is the best!

My work uses the full postini service where each user has their own black/white lists and spam/blocked messages are held on the postini server for a few weeks.

SW.

No, those using smtp mail delivery or 3rd party mail exchanger records will not have their email proxied via Postini.


Judging by Postini's reporting and the findings from our internal trial the chance is nil

Email currently passes through a process called Clam that does this sort of thing at the moment.

I believe that customers will be able to request reports when we're able to roll-out the additional functionality early next year.


The 'edge' blocking will still be in effect, but the subject line tagging for the stuff that gets delivered will be switched off.

Bob, Looking through the blog and on the help assistant pages where you request participation in the trial it isn't stated that Postini isn't an option now and will never apply to those who have SMTP mail delivery turned on.

Will the planned implementation still allow users to opt for emails not to be scanned for spam?

From what I've read there is to be no change - the obvious stuff will blocked at the perimeter (even for those who have spam protection turned off). If you have spam protection off all the accepted mail will be delivered without being tagged.

My slight, and likely unfounded, concern is that any of the scanning will be done by a third party owned by Google.

The privacy statement on the Postini website doesn't seem to include anything about  data that they process for their End Users, other than the data obtained through their website.

As I am currently successful at avoiding spam I wouldn't be interested in using a third party scanning service and would prefer to avoid exposing all of my email through a single "external" body.

In the above privacy statement, the nearest relevant condition seems to be under the section titled "EU Mailers" and includes the sentence "The email service provider is the controller of the EU Personal Data, and Postini therefore processes such data strictly in accordance with the email service provider's instructions and pursuant to its contractual arrangements with the email service provider as Postini's customer."

So for "Personal Data" the condition seems vague and the condition doesn't seem to include information in the emails not covered by the term "Personal Data".

What causes 'edge blocking'? technical issues (eg no valid return address, source IP is dynamic etc) or message content too?

I'm really not happy about compulsory message content filtering.... if thats where we are. I'm not sure that it would be in PN's interest either. 

If PN, or any other ISP, take it upon themselves to set content filtering then they effectively authorise what gets through. Do PN want to be responsible for that?