At 11:09 AM 8/12/2003, Tom Thomson wrote:
> From: asrg-admin(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
[mailto:asrg-admin(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org]On Behalf Of Alan
Monaghan
> Subject: RE: [Asrg] 7. Best Practices - DNSBLs - Article
> So don't use their list. All of the block lists have problems. Some worse
than others.
> If Spews did give any contact information, they would be out of business
in
> a week as people try to take them to court for any number of things just
to
> make them spend all their money and time.
> The Register Article did not present any balance in the information nor
did
> it show that the ISP in question is a problem for everyone.
> Spews is working the only way it can right now. Again, if it doesn't work
> for you, don't use it.
I agree, the Register article did show a lack of balance - it gave far too
much leeway to the bunch of irresponsible vigilantes that run Spews.
Other blacklists give contact information, and manage to keep their heads
above water. Of course the approach Spews takes to collateral damage (cause
as much as possible regardless of harm to their innocent victims, the end
justifies the means and screwing innocent parties is as good a means as any)
probably means they might be a bit more open to litigation than other
blacklists are.
I've never been quite 100% sure just how much truth that criticising Spews
often results in getting a large block of your ISP's addresses added to
their list - close, given the people who have told me that is what goes on,
but not quite 100%. Post hoc ergo propter hoc was never a valid argument and
there's always going to be at least one IP address in a /16 block that
someone's complained about sometime somewhere so maybe it's all just
coincidence after all.
The problem is that mail administrators manage to evaluate blacklists based
on their effectiveness not their reputation. This would lead to the
blacklists which block the most IPs, being the most effective. However,
there is no evaluation done on whether any innocent email is being blocked
as well. And leaving people in the dark about internal procedures of
blacklists is not helping the situation. They do not have to give out
contact info, just write up some clear guidelines and follow them.
Yakov
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