more on Verizon blocks European email by default.

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Gunnar Helliesen <gunnar () bitcon no>
Organization: Bergen IT Consult
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 12:55:33 +0100
To: <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] Verizon blocks European email by default.

> Verizon has taken to blocking all email from Europe, in an
> attempt to reduce spam.

This, of course, only accomplishes one thing, it makes the blood of most
European 'net users boil.

"Kettle? Pot for you on line two."

Spam is a predominately American problem. This has been documented again
and again, but I will include links and references at the end of this
email just in case someone's still hiding under a rock and haven't seen
them yet.

We all know by now that those American companies and individuals who are
sending the spam have moved their operations offshore, mostly to China.
This is a problem both the American and the Chinese law makers and law
enforcement agencies will have to deal with.

We also know that some spam does indeed originate from other countries,
and that some is even relayed through servers outside of China. We've
all had spam written in Chinese or Cyrillic characters, or relayed
through servers in Brazil, so clearly spam is a world wide problem.

What makes the decision by Verizon so galling, however, is the fact that
most European countries not only have more efficient anti-spam laws in
place than the pathetic US CAN-SPAM act, but that they also enforce said
laws quite a bit more diligently. The end result is that very little
spam comes from, or is relayed through, Europe.

Further to the Pot Calling Kettle Black theme, Verizon has a track
record of spam problems themselves:

http://tinyurl.com/5a6x4

So what is going on here? Why is Verizon taking an action that, frankly,
doesn't seem to make much sense from a practical point of view? Lashing
out at Europe is not terribly helpful in stopping the flow of spam.

Slashdot discussion about Verizon's decision to block European IPs:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/17/1226237

Computerworld on the effectiveness of CAN-SPAM:
http://tinyurl.com/6wqg9

ZDNet article: 42% of all spam from the US
http://tinyurl.com/6d734

Slashdot discussion of ZDNet article:
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/25/1418247

The Spamhaus Register of Known Spam Operations (ROKSO) list:
http://www.spamhaus.org/rokso/index.lasso

Quote from the ROKSO page: "200 Known Spam Operations responsible for
80% of your spam." Note which country most of those 200 spam operations
are from (right hand side of table).

So why is Verizon blocking email from Europe again?

-- 
Gunnar Helliesen   | Bergen IT Consult     | Open Source activist
Systems Consultant | Bergen, Norway        | Jaguar enthusiast
gunnar () bitcon no   | www.bitcon.no/~gunnar | Märklin collector


------ End of Forwarded Message


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