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Blacklisted e-mailers sue anti-spam groups

Michael Stanclift   on 28 April 2003 - 16:06 · 17 comments & 840 views

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Today is anti-Spam day here at neowin.net :)

A recently formed group of e-mail marketers has opened a new front in the escalating war over unsolicited e-mail, suing several organizations that track and "blacklist" alleged spammers so that their messages will be rejected by Internet service networks.

EMarketersAmerica.org, a nonprofit Florida corporation, charges that spam-tracking groups falsely accuse legitimate marketers of being spammers and ruin their businesses by blacklisting and harassing them.

The tracking groups, which include Spews.org and Spamhaus.org, keep databases of information about accused spammers, publishing as much personal information about them as is available.

The data form blacklists, which are used by many providers of Internet connections and Web-page hosting services. Once the Internet address of an accused spammer is publicized, providers can block any mail from it, or pull down any Web site at that address.

The suit comes at a time of intense scrutiny of spam, which accounts for an estimated 40 percent of all e-mail.

News source: The Washington Post


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Post a comment · Send to friend Comments · There are 17 additional comments
#1 theprotege on 28 Apr 2003 - 16:23
die spammers...dieeeeee i'm so sick of getting 4-700 emails a day of reaking spammer poop. bunch of no-talent ass clowns trying to make a quick buck...
#2 LiGhTfast on 28 Apr 2003 - 16:43
yeh these people need shooting imho get real jobs
#3 Smash on 28 Apr 2003 - 16:47
All I say to this is : Excellent.
#4 ingrampj on 28 Apr 2003 - 17:18
Has the world gone mad..The People that are sending the SPAM are sueing the people that want to STOP Spam...sounds like it is time for the inmates to take over the assylum. ANY MAIL THAT ARRIVES IN YOUR INBOX THAT YOU HAVE NOT ASKED FOR, IS SPAM. Even mail from charitable organisations, if it has not been requested is SPAM. BUT....where do you draw the line and how do you combat the growing menace that threatens to choke the Internet...THAT...is a whole different story
#5 longwilli on 28 Apr 2003 - 17:46
i hate spam its constantly filling my mailbox with crap
(2 replies) #6 dbnet on 28 Apr 2003 - 17:58
These self-righteous anti-spam zealots at SPEWS have gone unchecked too long. They took it upon themselves to "black list" large ranges of IPs on the Sprint network because of one spammer. And doing so my company is now marked as a evil spammer. Now don't get me wrong I in NO way support or condone spam but they went too far. I agree that something needs to be done to save our inboxes from all this unwanted junk but "black listing" thousands of addresses because one spammer is in there somewhere is like killing flies with a shotgun. Take a look for yourself. http://spews.org/html/S396.html
#6.1 theprotege on 28 Apr 2003 - 19:16
thats sprints own problem for allowing it to come from thier network in the first place...you guys probably hired all the mci retards when mci flopped a year ago.
#6.2 Octol on 29 Apr 2003 - 12:55
[neoquote=#6.0 by dbnet]These self-righteous anti-spam zealots at SPEWS have gone unchecked too long. They took it upon themselves to "black list" large ranges of IPs on the Sprint network because of one spammer. And doing so my company is now marked as a evil spammer. Now don't get me wrong I in NO way support or condone spam but they went too far. I agree that something needs to be done to save our inboxes from all this unwanted junk but "black listing" thousands of addresses because one spammer is in there somewhere is like killing flies with a shotgun. Take a look for yourself. http://spews.org/html/S396.html[/neoquote] Unfortunately, there's always "collateral damage" in time of war. And make no mistake about it, we are at war with the spammers. I'm sorry you got caught in this particular spam trap, but the fact is that it takes just this kind of drastic action to put sufficient pressure on ISPs to get spammers off of their servers. You got caught, but can you imagine the chaos that would ensue [I]without[/I] blacklists? To completely open the email floodgates to spammers? Holy Nightmare, Batman!! Furthermore, I flatly do not believe that "thousands of addresses" were blacklisted "because (of) [I]one[/I] spammer". There's got to be more to this particular blacklisting than what you know or are saying--and I'm sure that many of the people here at Neowin would be interested in reviewing any facts you might have substantiating your claim that you've been unfairly or arbitrarily victimized here. Reproducing here any statements from Sprint in response to your complaints would be a good start (you [I]did[/I] complain to Sprint, right?) But even if you [I]have[/I] been unfairly victimized, there's still plenty you can do to remedy the situation without undue disruption to your business. One solution: Assuming you have your own domain name (and of course it's totally insane [I]not[/I] to have one if you're in business), it's a reasonably quick and painless process to have it hosted on a different server. If you [I]don't[/I] have your own domain name, I'd strongly suggest you get on it immediately. A friend of mine has a saying: "Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me." If you continue to sit in the frying pan, you've got no one to blame but yourself.
#7 semifamous on 28 Apr 2003 - 18:02
I agree. Black listing is the WRONG way to go about blocking junk mail.
(1 reply) #8 MadDog on 28 Apr 2003 - 18:09
I use Spamhaus' RBL on our front-end mail server at work. We toss 3,000+ messages a day based on their list and maybe 1-3 messages are falsely listed. I am all for anti-spam measures as long as people errantly listed have means for appeal. Spammers come up with all kinds of ways to circumvent dictionary checks like putting d.o.t.s or d-a-s-h-e-s between words, using 133t speak or just using all graphics... freaking losers. I do not need to have larger breasts! And, according to my girl friend, I don't need to increase my *ahem* size either. So what do I need all this spam for?!
#8.1 theprotege on 28 Apr 2003 - 19:15
preach on reverend mad dog...i also take whever steps necessary to block my networks from spam...if aol can block residential smtp servers, i can block your momma and her momma too. i love the fact that i don't have to enter in a single rule for every damn spam message that hits my networks...what a pain in the ass, i refuse to suffer for someone elses idiocracy. send up the bill and i'll vote yes to throw the book at spammers...
#9 Skyfrog on 28 Apr 2003 - 18:10
[QUOTE]and ruin their businesses by blacklisting and harassing them.[/QUOTE] Harassing [I]them[/I]?
#10 Kayrene_h on 28 Apr 2003 - 19:30
I opened one of my inboxes the other day and found so much junk mail I couldn't believe it.And the painful thing was most of it was porn mail. So I'm all for anti-spam measures.
#11 epple on 28 Apr 2003 - 19:49
i hope all spammers will burn in hell, forever and ever!!!11111
#12 Michael Lerner on 28 Apr 2003 - 20:06
Umm as far as I know an owner of a mail server has the right to block email addresses, it's legal, so if these spammers hope to sue them well good luck.
#13 Tartan on 28 Apr 2003 - 20:29
Yeah who exactly is harrasing who here? If you went up to someone in the street and got in their face, touting 'get bigger breasts', 'enlarge your penis, 'loose weight' - You would be sued for sexual harrasment, verbal abuse, stress and lord knows what else. Needless to say they would then find that 'enlarged penis' being shoved up where the sun don't shine from a very friendly man in Jail.
#14 nacs on 28 Apr 2003 - 22:24
Spam sucks. Simple as that. I personally rely heavily on these anti-spam lists for my SpamAssassin's beautiful spam filtering.

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