On Wednesday 21 January 2004 5:45 pm, Tom Nielsen wrote:
It seems these guys are a spam blocker, but they block IPs. Instead of blocking problem IPs they block entire ranges of IPs and let legit folks fight to get their IP removed from the list (like me).
I'm wondering if anyone has had a run-in with them and how I can get my IP off.
Thanks, Tom
Tom, I think that the idea is that some abuse comes from dynamic IP domains, hence it is pointless to block a single address, because by the time you do, you are punishing only the innocent, and the guilty can just login to another IP address in the range. Obviously, mail-abuse are not in a position to tell whether the IP block you are in is dynamically allocated. I hope you would agree that it is better to punish the guilty along with the innocent rather than just punish the innocent. The blocking itself is not global. It is other users and ISP's choosing to believe the mail-abuse listing in order to block spam, and those people accepting the risk of losing legitimate traffic for the greater good. So what this means is that you are using an IP address from a block where someone else is doing or has done abuse. It is about the company you keep [obviously not through choice]. This really is a matter for your ISP to enforce an Acceptable Use Policy [AUP] on all its users, for the benefit of the many. You should ideally take this up with the ISP and get them to deal with whoever is causing the problem. The problem could simply be win lusers running trojans and malware, but whatever it is, the ISP should act on its own initiative and not need prompting. Once the ISP has cleaned up its act, they should be able to de-list with mail-abuse.org - check their site for the procedure Check out the ISP's AUP - if their terms are not robust, or if they do not enforce it, then ultimately you must change ISP to one who is prepared to keep a clean house. Sorry to give a dismal story on this. We have such a limited handle on spamming, that I am pleased to see that IP blocks are blocked by other ISP's, so that pressure can be applied to the rogue ISP's who can't or won't deal with their customers - though obviously equally sorry to see you losing connectivity. All the best Vince LIttler