Topic: Mark Perkel

One of the hosts recounts meeting the creator of Squirrel Mail at a memorial for Mark Perkel. They discuss the irony that the entire back office of the No Agenda show still runs on the aging open-source email platform. The creator, Paul, reportedly appreciated that the software is still being used for the show's operations.

Listener Francois Carstens reports that Google is flagging John Dvorak's website as hacked, which the hosts dismiss as a tactic to force the use of Google Webmaster Tools. In appreciation of the donation, John Dvorak performs a harmonica solo while Adam Curry provides a "smooth radio voice" introduction in the style of a light FM station.

Mark Perkel announces plans to sue Google over its "HTTPS Everywhere" initiative, which labels non-encrypted websites as "not safe" in the Chrome browser. The hosts support the lawsuit, arguing that Google's policy is anti-competitive and coercive, effectively forcing small website owners to pay for SSL certificates to maintain search rankings.

Mark Perkel, a long-time expert in junk email filtering and operator of Ctyme.com, has announced he is battling stage 4 lung cancer. Perkel is seeking a successor to train and take over his specialized spam filtering business, which serves many non-profits and the EFF. The discussion also touches on the "extortionate" practices of some email security organizations like Spamhaus, contrasting them with Perkel's principled approach to email management.

The hosts acknowledge executive producers Roberto and Sir James Briscoe for their financial support. They discuss the show's technical infrastructure, including the use of Amazon S3 and the challenges of being blocked in certain regions like Korea. John Dvorak explains that his IP address, managed by Mark Perkel, is sometimes flagged due to hosting radical websites.

John C. Dvorak expresses his reluctance to depend on third-party email providers like Gmail, preferring to maintain control over his own mail servers. Adam Curry argues for the superior search capabilities of Gmail and explains how controlling the MX record in DNS settings provides the ultimate security against being locked out by a provider.

Dvorak reveals his inclusion on an internal Microsoft "do not inform" list discovered during the Combs v. Microsoft antitrust litigation. The list includes various tech figures and companies that were denied early access to software betas. Dvorak attributes his status to "blowing the lid off" private retreats Bill Gates held for select journalists at his Hood Canal estate.