Editorial:
Major Problems Caused Twice Three FOUR Times By Spamcop
Imagine if the police stopped a bank robbery by telling the bank
manager there was a suspect in the building. The manager takes no
chances and shoots every legitimate customer unfortunate enough to be
present at the time. Why? Because the manager knows the police would
shut the entire bank down if the manager didn't act fast enough to
eliminate the suspect. So, the customers are dead through no fault of
their own. The manager acts out of fear to protect the bank's business
with remaining customers. Imagine the police say they don't tell the
manager how to react, and that their list of suspects contains some
errors.
They receive public approval for their work stopping bank robbers. The
collateral damage is covered up.
It isn't supposed to happen that way.
Well, that is - in effect - the way Spamcop seems to work. Blocking
vile spam may be praiseworthy if done correctly, but damage to
many other innocent bystanders is a dirty secret being covered up and
ignored.
(1) Most recently, this site's newsletter - pure science history and
education content that is obviously not spam - has been undeservedly
blocked by their blacklist used by email postmasters around the world.
Result? The site's mailbox is filled with bounced mail. Wastes more
time than spam to open every one and check to find any that have
messages that do need attention. Seem like irony? Spamcop's blacklist
has
filled the mailbox with time-wasting email.
Not once, not twice, not three times, but FOUR times now. When will this interference stop?
The reason? Because this is a small site that like most others, it pays
an ISP an affordable price by sharing a server. When SOMEONE ELSE -
nothing to do with this site - on the server sent mail alleged
to be spam, Spamcop added the entire mail server to their blacklist so
EVERY user of the server is held hostage until the ISP can sort it out.
Why should that happen? Our email address is unique... that means
different from whomever Spamcop was after. No matter. Spamcop stands by
while everyone on the server is blocked before identifying the true
problem. Collective punishment.
Spamcop says ISPs are only given the blacklist as recommendations,
letting ISPs exercise their choice whether to act on it or not. Or
letting their customers choose. Does the Post Office burn the snail
mail of everyone in the neighbourhood because one unknown person sent
junk mail that a group without police authority said they didn't
like?
Email has become different. Innocent bystanders die for the
greater good.
Spamcop offers no compensation for collateral damage. It disclaims
responsibility by saying their list is not perfectly accurate. That's a
cop-out.
How would you feel about your local police being self-satisfied and
getting away with not being perfectly accurate about who gets shot
during a bank robbery?
"If you threaten legal action," says their site, "we will have to refer
your email to our
legal department, which will delay any action we might otherwise have
taken." In other words, they tell you they "will" knowingly injure you
more, by increasing the time taken for correction. Notice "will delay"
is not wishy-washy like "might delay." Is that a threat to deter
accountability?
(2) A couple of years ago, this website was shut down for at least 3
days. Why? A totally unrelated company, not even using the same ISP,
had used a quote on science from our website in their legitimate
subscriber-requested double opt-in newsletter. Being a legitimate
business, convention was followed, and the quote was attributed to the
URL of this site. That other company was not spamming. Apparently, one
of their subscribers, who had actively requested that
company's newsletter mailing, was too lazy or ill-informed to
simply use the conventional unsubscribe routine and had initiated a
Spamcop entry instead.
Perhaps that individual thought he was acting to block only his own
account. Nope! Spamcop added to their blacklist not just the newletter
source itself, but EVERY website link mentioned on that newsletter.
Remember, even the newsletter itself was not spam. Our site did not ask
for a link, had nothing to do with that newsletter, but ended up with a
three day hassle through the ISP before it was sorted out. An estimated
ten thousand visitors saw a "domain names for sale" page
instead of our science history education pages. Our site looked as if
it no longer existed. How did Spamcop justify their action? A
representative said their policy was to blacklist our site because just
the mention of the URL in someone else's newsletter would drive traffic
to the site, and traffic was an undeserved benefit!!! But
this is a not-for-profit science education site! No matter, he said, no
exceptions - the site had to suffer the consequences. Guilt by
association. No apologies. Blame the ISP, he said, it was their choice
to act or not on Spamcop's notice.
The website was closed by the ISP without contacting the webmaster.
Dead. Shoot first, ask questions later. So, did the ISP switch the site
back on immediately the true situation was known? Nope. It wasn't
really their free choice. There were days of delay while the ISP (they
said) made absolutely sure Spamcop would be satisfied, and there was no
possibility that Spamcop would send a negative notice to the upline
provider above the ISP. To be cut off at the higher node would
cripple the entire ISP operation*. Since that would affect
their entire customer base - everybody on all their servers - they
bluntly said their operation was far too big and would take no chances.
Clearly, the ISP was intimidated by Spamcop. So this web site was
toasted for as long as it took to sort out with Spamcop, because one
site was nothing again the entire company's business.
(Our host now is not the same ISP.)
Please, don't praise Spamcop for the holy crusade on spam when the
collateral damage is high and uncontrolled. Withhold the praise until a
more conscientious, effective method is used. Meanwhile too much
uninformed praise causes blindness and deafness while Spamcop continues
to bludgeon the innocent.
If this raises your awareness, and want to know more about the extent
of the problems, use Google. Try keywords "Spamcop problems" - over
63,000 results. "Spamcop gestapo" - over 1000 results. The horror
stories are out there. Does anybody care?
Why take the time to write all this? Because real spammers are the most
vile, selfish, parasitic lifeforms that slither in the dung of the earth. Thus, to be put on
a blacklist - and you are not a spammer - makes you feel so unclean.
You have been unjustly put in jail with society's lepers and you feel
their oozing sores contaminate you. Out, out damn spot! What do you do
to feel clean again?
Disclaimer: The content of this editorial expresses the opinion of the
writer. It may contain errors. Sorry about that. It's your
choice whether you believe it or not.
*See also: http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=23