[extropy-chat] the RBL racket

Eugen Leitl eugen at leitl.org
Mon Jul 31 10:58:20 UTC 2006


On Mon, Jul 31, 2006 at 11:37:43AM +0100, BillK wrote:

> > Of course this is racketeering, and if you do business with
> > RBL operators you're directly supporting the mafia.
> >
> 
> Your argument really only applies to 'overkill' spam blacklists, like SPEWS.

All RBLs are not very accurate (outdated at least).
Just inherit a cursed IP address and try to get it cleared.
Doesn't hurt spammers one bit, but legitimate users plenty.
 
> Your spam email filter program builds its own blacklist from spam you

What you do in the privacy of your home is yours entirely.

> personally receive. Most RBLs are just accumulations of people
> reporting spam received. In windows, I tell Mailwasher to check the

Right -- with little verification, and blocking of entire networks
just because there -- once upon a time -- there used to be a spammer on it. 
"They stole my bike in Queens, here come the nuclear missiles -- 
I'm sure I'll get the guilty party. If the locales don't like
being nuked, why don't they move away, eh". And bike thieves
don't like being nuked one bit, and unlike innocents, they *do*
have ICBMs, and in fact more megatons than you. Wheeee!

> CBL, Spamhaus, VISI and Spamcop RBLs against my POP3 email account.
> I've had no problems with doing this. (Admittedly my POP3 account is

I've had big problems when doing this. Don't assume your anecdote
works for everybody. 

> now mainly a spam trap, since I moved to gmail).
> 
> ISPs are busily flagging the spam you receive and moving it to your
> Junk Mail box. But they still refuse to stop the zombie boxes in their

But ATT is bouncing your mail. You never see a notice. You can't
even complain to ATT, because they will bounce your complaint, too.

> domain sending out the spam in the first place.
> 80% to 90% of all email traffic is now spam. And now that spammers are
> switching to 'image' spam to avoid detection, the storage and

Well, who'd thunk.

> bandwidth bloat is increasing rapidly.
> 
> The battle continues. Desperate measures may be necessary.

If you're starting to contemplate the nuclear option,
you're not the solution. You're the problem.



-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
______________________________________________________________
ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820            http://www.ativel.com
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