FC: Politech incorrectly blocked by SpamCop -- for the third time

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

First, SpamCop incorrectly listed the Politech server as a source of spam 
on Feb. 11. Then SpamCop incorrectly listed the Politech server as a source 
of spam for three or four days (if I recall properly) circa July 8. Now 
SpamCop  lists Politech on its spammer-list because some other servers also 
hosted at Rackspace.com are alleged spammers.

I wrote to SpamCop's Julian Haight in July asking him if he could prevent 
this from recurring. He wrote back: "I don't see what proactive action I 
can take. There is nothing wrong with the system and it may well happen 
again. Sorry."

SpamCop is a commercial service that compiles a list of alleged spammers 
and charges $30 a year for individual email accounts and far more, I 
imagine, for corporate filtering.

No spam has ever been sent from the Politech server. Nor was I notified 
when it was placed on SpamCop's list again.

Don't get me wrong. SpamCop has the right to compile and publish 
blacklists, even if they are not vetted for accuracy and are therefore 
overbroad and certain to block legitimate mail. But we also have the right 
to speak out against SpamCop's practices and criticize it where appropriate.

I invite SpamCop to defend this overbroad listing -- and say why anyone 
should trust their service in the future, if my experience with SpamCop is 
any indication. Personally, I use SpamAssassin and am very happy with it.

-Declan

---

Subject: politech blocked by spamcop...
From: "B. Johannessen"
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Date: 04 Nov 2002 09:22:31 +0000

Hi Declan,

please mask out my email if you forward this to Politech.

it seems the Spamcop blacklist has listed the network 216.110.36/24
(all ip addresses starting with 216.110.36), which is where cluebot.com
lives. checking the status at Spamcops website shows that 216.110.36.217
(the ip address of cluebot) has no spam reported against it, but that
the c class network as a whole is above some threshold.

the report is available at the following url:
http://spamcop.net/w3m?action=checkblock&ip=216.110.36.217

you may want to drop the nice people at Spamcop a line about this,
surely there must be something they can do to get cluebot de-listed.

regards, and thank you for Politech.


        Bob Johannessen, Norway




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