[gentoo-amd64] Re: Why does Earthlink"s virus blocker think this list is infected?

[Duncan]

Curtis Richards posted <42D14E24.7070103@×××××××××.net>, excerpted below, 
on Sun, 10 Jul 2005 12:34:44 -0400:

> Anyone know why the digests would trigger the Earthlink virus Blocker?
>
>
> **************************************
> EARTHLINK VIRUS BLOCKER MESSAGE STATUS
> **************************************
>
> MESSAGE QUARANTINED
>
> Virus Detected: Malformed container violation

That last line pretty much explains it.  The scanner can't parse the
message encapsulation (container) format used for the digests, so it
thinks the encapsulation is malformed (perhaps it's right, I'm not going
to bother researching it to find out).  If it can't parse the
encapsulation format, it can't properly scan any encapsulated items for
viruses, so to be safe, it quarantines the message, just in case.

Do note that every once in awhile, somebody reading the Gentoo lists using
MS Lookout or Lookout Express (or for that matter, any HTML parsing
client on MSWormOS) /does/ pass on a virus, and they /can/ make it to the
list, altho I'm not sure if they make it to the list digests. Thus, if you
do happen to use MS products (platform or mail/news client) to read the
list, it'd be wise to keep that in mind and not disable the scanning
entirely. If you don't use MS platforms anyway (but it seems you do,
unless you munged your useragent to spoof Thunderbird on MSWormOS), then
even in the unlikely event someone /does/ post malware that will affect
Linux, it's not likely most scanners will pick it up anyway, so you might
as well disable the scanner and not worry about it.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman in
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/12/22/rms_interview.html


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