Re: Spammers and "The Blacklist"

Hi Judith...

For starters, you can go here:

http://www.mail-abuse.org/rbl/

Turned out that we were on the blacklist... a local ISP was blocking any
e-mail that we sent to any of their users.  Checking into it, I was referred
to the above URL to find out why.  It turned out that it was not us
specifically, but rather any mail coming from a range of IP addresses
assigned to our hosting provider.  There were a number of sites using the
same hosting provider as us that had been reported for spam abuse, and the
blacklist simply banned the entire block of IP addresses.

Still in the process of sorting this out... in the meantime, we are sending
any e-mail to users of this local ISP via our ISP's SMTP server, so at least
we can still reach them.  Seems like a complicated process to get ourselves
off the list though.  One bad apple.... you know the rest.

HTH

Michael Schultz
Vice President of Operations
Virtualtech Web Site Design and Promotion http://www.virtualtech.com
(800) 474-7001
"We Put The Pieces Together"

----- Original Message -----
From: Judith C. Kallos <webmaster(at)theistudio.com>
To: <hwg-business(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2001 12:33 PM
Subject: Spammers and "The Blacklist"


> Hey, all....
>
> First let me state I really don't want to get into a flame-fest on spam
> do's or don'ts because that is right up there with sex, religion and
> politics.  ;-)   Just that I hate not "knowing" something I've heard about
> or experienced and hopefully, someone can enlighten me on the subject of
> infamous "Blacklist".  I know it exists based on a situation about 5 years
> ago with a client that was blacklisted in error. Their hosting company
> stated they were on "The Blacklist" and were able to remedy the situation.
>
> Against our recommendations a client went ahead and spammed 100s of
> thousands of folks and not only that relayed through third party servers
in
> the process.  Needless to say their hosting company shut them down
F.A.S.T.
> (even quicker actually) and it is apparent that they are on the infamous
> Blacklist as the relocated site is not visible through various ISPs (the
> domain transfer has propagated) and email is bouncing back with a specific
> message that the mail was from an identified spammer and blocked from that
> particular system(s).
>
> Now, I don't feel sorry for this client - it is clear they still don't
> understand the magnitude of their decision "I get cold-call telemarketed
at
> home at 8 in the evening - this is the same thing".  We are clear about
the
> repercussions as well that my company will not/cannot be their advocate
> when a client specifically ignores our advice on this topic.
>
> I relocated the site to a new server (warned them again for the last time
> <hint-hint>) and that is as much as I want to get involved in this
> particular situation.  Thank goodness this is maintenance/strategy client
> and our name was not on any of the domain records.  BTW, if any of you
have
> handled this type of situation differently please let me know.
>
> That said, for my own knowledge - where can you find out about this topic
> in general and who is on The Blacklist?   I was really surprised how
> quickly this site was shut-down and Blacklisted so there must be a site,
or
> a cooperative group of Hosts/ISPs who when someone goes too far this
> happens.  The question then becomes the legality of Blacklisting a
business
> (how far is too far and what are the criteria) and the potential liability
> to said Blacklist if they err (more my concern with spammers using false
> identities) - which based on my own experience 5 years ago can happen.
>
> I just know there has to be more info on this and any thoughts, resources
> or information any of you may have would be appreciated!  ;-)
>
> /j
>
> "Although it is within the realm of possibility to escort equus
> caballus to a location providing a potable mixture of hydrogen and
> oxygen, one cannot coerce said mammal to imbibe."
>
>

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