Jan 13, 2000

January 13, 2000

Are You Getting All Your E-Mail?

We all know that unsolicited email ("spam") is a nuisance. If you're like me you've tried sending "REMOVE" messages only to find the address they gave you was bad, and you've tried installing filters like SpamKiller but find you still have to read every message because the rules often filter out legitimate mail.

It would be nice if there was a simple solution. Well apparently somebody thinks they've found it, and they've suckered a lot of ISPs into signing up for their service. Here's how it works:

Spammers don't like to be tracked down so they relay their mail through servers that have been left open for access from anyone. By sending mail through enough relays they can obscure their true identity.

The fine people at www.mail-abuse.org think they have a solution. They have a list of all the mail servers that are open to relaying. They make this list available to ISP's (like yours!) to use to filter incoming mail. Note that this filters all incoming mail from that server, not just the spam.

So what happens is you give your friend your email address then wonder why he never writes. So you send an email to him but get no response. Finally you decide you must have done something to upset your friend and go through the rest of your life wondering why he won't contact you.

On the other side of the country your friend is sending you six emails a day trying to figure out why they all bounce back with some cryptic error message that makes it sound like he's abusing the mail system somehow. He finally gives up.

What's happened here is that your friends server ended up on the mail-abuse.org list. Now you can never get any messages from him.

Nor will you get any spam from that server. That's no big deal... the spammer has probably moved on to another server, or set up his own server, or even his own ISP. He's having no trouble getting his message out.

But you can't get legitimate mail from your friends, thanks to the good people at mail-abuse.org.

Folks, this is stupidity at its highest. Let's take this philosophy and apply it to some other real world problems:

	We can stop all bank robberies by keeping all the doors locked on all the banks, shutting down the ATM machines and disconnecting the online banking services. Sure, you won't be able to access your money, but that's a small price to pay for solving a major crime problem!
	We can stop all automobile accidents by carefully blocking access to all roads. The cars will run out of gas at the road blocks and eventually everyone will have to walk. There will still be collisions, but the injuries will not be as severe.
	We can solve world hunger by forcing all pregnant women to have abortions. This is an especially good idea because it has the side effect of solving over-population, child pornography, and within 100-150 years it will even cure cancer!

If you find out your ISP is using these lame-brained techniques to fight spam, complain loud and often. There are legitimate businesses and people trying to send you email, which you're paying your ISP to deliver to you, and you're not receiving it.