On Sun, 14 Sep 2003 23:34:04 -0400 (EDT), Dean Anderson wrote: >On Mon, 15 Sep 2003, Dr. Jeffrey Race wrote: >>> A few comments (interleaved) to clarify the record :) >>>> On Sun, 14 Sep 2003 19:14:14 -0400 (EDT), Dean Anderson wrote: >> >Indeed. These open relay blacklist sites were always a highly >> >questionable source for mail filtering. Quite obviously, open relays have >> >no relationship to spam, so using an open relay blacklist is going to >> >block a lot of non-spam email. >> >> ==> That is the only way to get the attention of overworked (or >> incompetent) admins. > >No, it isn't. And it is an illegal method, because you (if you are an >ISP), probably don't have permission to block non-spam mail. You may wish to take legal advice on this as you are incorrect in your belief. It is a matter of contract between ISP and customer. > Blocking communications without permission is a (US) federal felony, Perhaps if you are a common carrier, which ISPs are not >It obviously isn't necessary, as you point out: > >> In one case I had to contact (personally) >> Ziggy Switkowski, the chairman of Telstra, to get his firm to >> crack down on misuse of his network. Contacting the chairman of the offending firm (in this case the state telecom monopoly) is obviously not scalable. Jeffrey Race (with apologies for delay in reply while I was travelling)