IP: ISP Spam blocking

[David Farber <dfarber () earthlink net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002 08:39:15 
To: farber () cis upenn edu
Subject: ISP Spam blocking

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tim Spannaus <tim () emdicium com>
> ...
> I am a Comcast subscriber, and while I can use the Google search engine, 
> Microsoft blocks me from sending mail from the Comcast domain to WebTV 
> subscribers.

Dave,

This kind of thing can get even stranger.  I had a friend contact me
when he was unable to get some e-mail through from Pacific Bell Internet,
(oops, SBC Pacific Bell, until the next name change) through to WebTV.
What really confused him was that some messages would go through, and
others wouldn't.  It turned out that WebTV had blocked only
*particular* PacBell mail systems from accessing the WebTV servers,
and the selection of which Pacbell server processed his mail appeared
to be essentially random.  So, it was luck of the draw for any
given piece of e-mail.

This of course was ludicrous.  SPAM mail blocking (I do it myself) can be a
completely legitimate and unfortunately necessary action, but needs to be
handled in a consistent manner with appropriate human oversight and avenues
for appeal.  This is particularly important to avoid these kinds of
situations that affect innocent, ordinary users, especially when the
blocking is being done by large ISPs.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () pfir org or lauren () vortex com or lauren () privacyforum org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, Fact Squad - http://www.factsquad.org
Co-Founder, URIICA - Union for Representative International Internet
                     Cooperation and Analysis - http://www.uriica.org
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy

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