[ale] g-mail blocks tar.gz attachments, but not .zip...

[Steven A. DuChene]

Do they also block tar.bz2 attachments?

-----Original Message-----
>From: aaron <aaron at pd.org>
>Sent: Feb 3, 2006 7:23 PM
>To: ALE <ale at ale.org>
>Subject: [ale] g-mail blocks  tar.gz attachments, but not .zip...
>
>I have found g-mail accounts to be a handy service for sharing, xferring and 
>storing files in a web accessable space. The only caveat I've encountered is 
>that google disallows certain file types as attachments on both incoming or 
>outgoing g-mail.
>
>I fully understand why they would want to protect the Micro$hafted maroons of 
>the world from their own ignorance by blocking ".exe" attachments.  What I 
>don't understand why they also choose to block ".tar.gz"  files, and yet 
>allow ".zip" attachments without question.
>
>Googl's reply to my query of this policy (exchange below) did nothing but 
>re-state the obvious by notifying me that they block ".exe" and ".tar.gz" 
>attachments.  (Yes. I already know that. My question was WHY do you block 
>".tar.gz"?)
>
>I've found workarounds and can easily attach any file to my g-mails, but  
>I'm wondering if anyone here can enlighten me with a good reason for googl's 
>".tar.gz" policy.  I thought tar and gz were passive archiving formats.
>
>peace
>aaron
>
>
>=========================================
>From: "Gmail Team" <gmail-support at google.com>
>To: arxaaron at gmail.com
>
>Hello,
>Thank you for your message.
>
>As a security measure to prevent the spread of potential viruses, Gmail
>users can't send or receive tar.gz files (ending in '.tar.gz') or
>executable files. Please note that a file can be executable even if it
>does not have '.exe' as an extension.
>
>Gmail does not accept tar.gz or executable files, even if they are sent in
>a zipped format. If someone tries to send this type of message to your
>Gmail account, the message will be bounced back to the sender.
>
>Sincerely,
>The Gmail Team
>
>------------------------
>Original Message Follows:
>
>From: arxaaron at gmail.com
>Subject: zip vs tar.gz
>  [snip]
>
>Why do you reject tar.gz archives? If there's a reason, why doesn't it
>apply equally to .zip archives?
>
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