RE: [cobalt-users] Spam blocking

["Dan Kriwitsky" <list1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> => It was repeated in the new CAN SPAM law that took effect 
> in January. You
> => can find it there.
> => But, in the US it's a simple matter of private property. 
> The ISPs only
> => liability is based on their contract with their customers 
> and virtually
> => every one makes no guarantee that any email will be delivered.
> 
> Not that I feel like perpetuating this discussion too much, 
> but surely you
> are affecting more people other than just your customers. You 
> are often
> affecting people who have no contract with you at all.

Exactly. They have no contract with me so no right to use my server.

> 
> In the case of innocent people sending mail to those on your 
> network, you
> are assuming that they are guilty of something without any 
> reason except
> that they happen to live in a certain country or use a certain network
> (something that you often have little control over). This is 
> effectively a
> form of discrimination.

No, it's a form of a boycott.

> 
> E.g. About a year ago the about.com network blocked a range 
> that covered
> about 2/3 of Australian networks. I was unable to communicate 
> with anybody
> on that network for several months.

That is their right. Their equipment, their rules. Maybe if you looked
into the reasons for the block and why it no longer exists you would
understand. Telstra for a long time refused to take any action on
spammers making all kinds of foolish claims thinking that nobody would
block them "because we're too big." They learned they were not too big
to be blocked and now spam isn't the problem coming from Telstra that it
once was. Painful for you? Maybe. But less painful for the millions of
others that were being abused.

> But clearly, the actions of blocking spam indiscriminately 
> affect innocent
> people and those people _may_ in some countries have a right to seek
> compensation.

Nope. No contract = no compensation. You do not have a right to have
your email delivered unless you have a contract with the company running
the network you are sending to.
-- 
C2003 Dan Kriwitsky

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