I'm not
defending the illegal activity of server pirates, and I do
not Spam. I manage commercial web sites for several small
businesses, we only mail to our customers and we do honor
remove requests. I had a huge problem with securing my
exchange servers because the information was either
non-existent or the people that had a solution wanted me to
worship them. I did sift through the noise and secure the
servers, and I do make the distinction between legitimate
use of email for commercial means and the illegal hijacking
of servers. Using email for legitimate commercial means
should be legal just as it is legal to use regular mail for
commercial means. Large corporations and ISPs already use
email to push their products and services, why should small
entrepreneurs be prevented from doing the same thing?
Hijacking servers ought to be a felony criminal offense just
like stealing a car, but free enterprise should be legal for
those who follow the rules.
One email
suggested that spammers are prostitutes and that the
neighborhood needed to be cleansed of their sins.
Blackholing isn't going to fix the problem any more than
rounding up prostitutes is going to stop prostitution, they
just move to another neighborhood. In this case the
neighborhood will be countries that allow spamming and you
can't plug every pipe draining out of some sewer systems. In
the absence of LAWS to regulate commercial email it seems to
me that blackholing is standing on shaky ground. The only
reason it hasn't been shut down already is that the people
with the authority to outlaw it don't know what it is. If
you think that just a few innocent bystanders are the only
ones hurt you obviously haven't experienced the complete
stupidity in operation from time to time.
i.e. My servers
were blacklisted because I had an open relay. I fixed the
open relay. My service provider uses osirusoft the database
for their blocklist. The University of Moscow feeds the
osirusoft database or osirusoft pulls data from the Russian
blocklists. The Russians block entire segments if they ever
received one piece of UCE, incidentally they had received
UCE from my service provider. Osirusoft gets the blocklist
info from the Russians blocking segments within my service
provider's network. My service provider is now blocking
entire segments within their own network based on
information from some obscure Russian blocklist (I still
can't send email to AOL or any of the bell networks even
though the problem is fixed and I've gone through the
removal process required by the blocklists).
I've tried to
explain this to the network engineers at my ISP but they
insist that they know everything and that there's nothing
they can do (contact osirusoft to get removed - BTW - I have
been removed from all the major blocklists but because the
Russians won't ever remove anyone my problem persists). The
result is that if I weren't running name servers I wouldn't
be able to send email to myself. Compounding this are
blocklists that accept nominations but provide absolutely no
means for removal once you fix your problem. Does any of
this seam logical, or sane? I'm sorry if you think it does.
From where I
stand (the high ground of having dealt with my problem but
seeing the failings of blackholing) it seems that a more
measured response is needed to stop Spam. Since you won't
stop spammers the best thing that could happen would be to
enact laws that specify what sort of activity is illegal. To
my knowledge there aren't any right now. Once guidelines
have been established then you have some basis for
prosecuting those who disregard those guidelines. If you
really want to stop spammers you have to set an example for
the spamming community, blocking their email isn't going to
do it. If they are intent on spamming they will just find
another means. However, a few highly publicized cases of
spammers being prosecuted that result in long jail terms for
the guilty will have a chilling effect on the spam
community. Many that once considered their activity
justified will back off and reconsider. They will be forced
to ask, "Am I really willing to go to jail for
this?"
Jail is
a deterrent blackholing is a nuisance.
What Can I Do?
Here
are some suggestions that can help stop the blackholing and
allow responsible use of email for legitimate businesses. I think
the responsible approach is to inform our ISPs that we don't
want our email black holed, and to ask
our legislators to enact some promotional email guidelines to lower
the noise level. Here are a couple of suggestions:
First,
step is to write a letter to your ISP asking them to please
stop using Spamcop and Osirusoft.org, or any other Realtime
Block Lists / Relay Spam Stop databases as a means of
filtering traffic to their network. Explain to them that in
some cases they are blocking traffic within their own network,
and that you are afraid you are missing important
correspondence because email might be being blocked. You can
write to the administrator of most networks at administrator@yourISP.com.
Other addresses you might try are abuse@yourISP.com or postmaster@yourISP.com
(substitute the name of your ISP for the term yourISP in the
previous address).
Second, boycott Spamcop and any other
anti-email filtering program being sold commercially. If you
have already purchased something, ask for a refund. There are
many ways to block unwanted email and most of them are FREE.
See http://www.spam-killers.com/guide.htm
for tips on stopping spam.
Third, write your state and
congressional representatives asking them to pass legislation
that allows the responsible use of email for commercial and
promotional means. Use the guidelines below for
suggestions.
Require any
promotional mail to be marked as such. Some states already require
this. A couple of states require that promotional email be marked
with ADV: in the subject line of unsolicited email. This makes it
easy to filter.
Require anyone
who is sending bulk email to provide a functional REMOVE mechanism
Require that
promotional email contain a legal mailing address and phone number
Require that the senders of
promotional email display a registered business name or ID number
Require promotional e-mailers to
obtain a bulk email permit similar to bulk-mail permits required
by the postal service
More
Information On Contacting Your Representative:
I understand and agree that
irresponsible and unsolicited email is bothersome, so is having your
mail black holed because of someone else's bad behavior or arbitrary
decision to do so.
The anti-email terrorists goal is to shut down
unsolicited e-mailers regardless of the content of their messages OR
THE CONSEQUENCES TO THE REST OF US.
This approach treats pleas for donations to charity the same as ads
for weight-loss gimmicks. This approach isn't likely to work and the
ones most likely to be hurt are the legitimate users.
As one door shuts
another opens. The internet is global, if you ban unsolicited email
here the scammers will just move their activities to servers in Canada, or Ecuador, or India. In the mean time
there is mass collateral damage to innocent email users whose mail is
dumped, and charitable causes who are prohibited from using this
tool in an appropriate manner.
It seems to me that enacting legislation to
control mass e-mailers is a lot more likely to happen. Let's not
forget a lot of these e-mailers are small businesses. Should we
restrict their use of promotional email any more than we restrict
the use of promotional email by the big companies, or ISPs? Should we put
small businesses here in America at a disadvantage by outlawing
unsolicited email while other countries permit their small
businesses to operate unfettered by such restrictions?
Owning and operating your own business is an American dream
that's getting harder and harder to realize. Big businesses always want to reserve the advantages for themselves. I guess that's
what big businesses are suppose to do, but black holing email,
especially the promotional email of small businesses, will do
nothing to stop unscrupulous operators and will take away one more
tool the little guy has to level the playing field with big
business.
Do you really want to take away one of the best tools small
businesses have to compete with the big guys? Do you really
want to shut the door on your own opportunity to realize your dreams of
having your own business someday? Do you really want to allow a few
disgruntled self-absorbed techo-geeks to control YOUR email? Do you really want to black hole the
American dream? I hope not, and if you think about it, trashing your
junk email is a small price to pay to preserve truth, justice, and
the American way.
For more information about the LAW governing UCE
(Unsolicited Commercial Email) read Senate
Bill 1618. Now more than ever Blackholing is illegal!
