Comment Can hurt relationships too (Score 1) 443
I deeply sympathize with ISPs who are battling spam, and with the blocking lists advocates, but collateral damage from blocking can get personal.
Lately I can't send email to my wife!
About 5 days ago, her ISP blocked all email from bellsouth.net, which is my ISP. Of course, they didn't tell her that, or me. Just out of the blue anyone who sent messages to any account at her ISP, via bellsouth.net, was told "Access Denied."
A lot of the reports of collateral damage in the anti-spam war focus on legitimate mailing lists, newsletters and the like. But it is also individuals who are finding their established means of communication cut off, and very abruptly so. Imagine a journalist who wants to interview my wife (she is the author of Network Security for Dummies). He sends her a message via an account at bellsouth.net, which is a large ISP (and not what the average person thinks of as "flaky"). The response "Access Denied" suggests the account is closed or unpaid for. Connection and opprotunity are lost.
Do I think we need to abandon blocklists? No, but we need whitelists as well, that allow mail through from verified and approved sources that are held to a high standard and thus given privileges (instantly revocable if need be for violations). This is technically possible. And it can be achieved. Think about the blocklist infrastructure--who would have predicted how quickly it could arise and refine itself to current levels. What we need now are more pieces of the puzzle to be put in place.
Stephen
Lately I can't send email to my wife!
About 5 days ago, her ISP blocked all email from bellsouth.net, which is my ISP. Of course, they didn't tell her that, or me. Just out of the blue anyone who sent messages to any account at her ISP, via bellsouth.net, was told "Access Denied."
A lot of the reports of collateral damage in the anti-spam war focus on legitimate mailing lists, newsletters and the like. But it is also individuals who are finding their established means of communication cut off, and very abruptly so. Imagine a journalist who wants to interview my wife (she is the author of Network Security for Dummies). He sends her a message via an account at bellsouth.net, which is a large ISP (and not what the average person thinks of as "flaky"). The response "Access Denied" suggests the account is closed or unpaid for. Connection and opprotunity are lost.
Do I think we need to abandon blocklists? No, but we need whitelists as well, that allow mail through from verified and approved sources that are held to a high standard and thus given privileges (instantly revocable if need be for violations). This is technically possible. And it can be achieved. Think about the blocklist infrastructure--who would have predicted how quickly it could arise and refine itself to current levels. What we need now are more pieces of the puzzle to be put in place.
Stephen
