On Jul 29, 2014, at 12:29 PM, David F. Skoll <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Tue, 29 Jul 2014 14:21:56 -0400 > Dave Pooser <[email protected]> wrote: > > RBLs are a good first line of defense, but unfortunately a lot of spam > originates from servers that RBLs cannot block for political or > practical resons. Think Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo servers, for > example. You need something extra to have acceptable catch rates, and > the "something extra" inveriably ends up being content-scanning. > > If you are willing to pay some cash for anti-spam, you may be better > off paying someone to manage your anti-spam solution entirely. Such > providers enjoy economies of scale that make it hard for you to > compete on your own. > > [Disclaimer: My company is a commercial anti-spam solution provider, so > consider that when analyzing my statements for bias. :) ] > > Regards, > > David. Actually, we’ve been blacklisting yahoo.com for years without regret. When they stopped having a responsive abuse department we pulled the plug. We have a different issue from what other people have mentioned on the list: we’re getting email from legitimate companies who have purchased mailing lists from less-than-lawful providers. There are companies which promise to go out and get you “targeted potential client lists” but all they’re selling you is harvested email addresses, and a lot of these companies who do business with them don’t intend to break the law but do (or at least, indirectly). I’ll write them and tell them that we’re going to file an IC3 complaint unless they can provide proof of an opt-in, and that’s when we get the whole “we need an opt-in? well… we actually get mailing lists from another company and the SWEAR they’ve gotten opt-in’s…” Then I explain to them that it doesn’t work like that, and it’s their job to do due diligence… The worst are the ones that either harvest from job boards, or else from political campaign donor disclosure records. Something about those two sources convinces them that you’ve already opted in to every mailing list that is or will ever be… -Philip
