How SPEWS works (Score 1)

"...for all I know the marketing company has legitimate addresses." No they don't. SPEWS works as follows: 1. Spam hits a SPEWS mailbox never used for anything. SPEWS email addresses have never subscribed to anything nor have they appeared in newsgroups or web pages. 2. SPEWS complains to the spammer's ISP. 3. More spam from same spammer arrives, implying ISP did nothing. 4. Spammer's IP is listed and another complaint sent to spammer's ISP. 5. More spam hits. Another complaint and block expands. 6. Eventually the ISPs entire IP space is listed. When the ISP evicts the offending spammer(s) - root and branch - the block is removed within a few hours. If the spammer 'reforms' (but stays a customer with the ISP), the block ages off as SPEWS becomes more and more convinced that the spammer has indeed Come to Jesus. This takes about a year (some say six months). By giving money to a SPEWS-listed ISP you are implicitly assisting a spammer. Your ISP is using you as a human shield.