RE: PDL anti-spam blacklist

["Brian Taylor" <drak3 () attbi com>]

It seems like I have a pretty good sized stick for this dead horse I am
about to beat senseless.  BUT, in matters like these, I have always had
better experiences with larger ISP's who are corporate enough to have a
(healthy) paranoia for liability and legal matters that all mid to large
sized companies seem to share.

Yes, I'll be the first to admit that many Tier 1 ISP's sometimes turn an
apathetic cheek to matters such as these, but having been a wired country
boy in rural Michigan and Alabama, I can tell you that the three Mom n' Pop
ISP's did not seem to have a firm grasp of Best Practices related to being a
good netizen.  This included abuse complaints originating from their ISPs,
known spammers from their domain (which ended them on a RBL in the first
place) and a few other things.  I don't know if it was a matter of staffing,
apathy or what.  But I'd be willing to bet that a lack of policies and a
brazen attitude towards possible legal issues are the cause.

Back to the topic, if something like this blackhole example were to happen
to hypothetical companies like EarthPink, Qwestion or AT&TTT, the sheer
worry of lawsuits or losing business would probably be the main motivators
to take care of something like this.  At least my experiences have been in
this fashion.

I'm not dogging Mom n Pop ISP's, nor their administrators (who are generally
quite skilled).  Like I said, they just don't seem to have a firm grasp on
Best Practices as they are frequently "the last gas station for 400 miles"
and operate with a bit of an isolationist mindset.

Just my .03

BT

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Taylor
johnthedwarf () ziplip com
"Sure you can get HIV from a mosquito -- if you have unprotected sex with
one!"

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-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher X. Candreva [mailto:chris () westnet com]
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 12:00 PM
To: Brian Taylor
Cc: incidents () securityfocus com
Subject: RE: PDL anti-spam blacklist


On Thu, 2 Jan 2003, Brian Taylor wrote:

> who end up on it due to their ISP.  Not a lot one can do about that,
> particularly if they have a mom & pop ISP like those in more rural areas.

What make you think a small ISP will be less likely to fix things and get of
the list ?  Seems to me the big guys are the ones with open relay customers
all over the place.

Of course, if your small ISP is also clueless, then yes, you may be in
trouble. Hopefully there is a cluefull competitor to switch to.

==========================================================
Chris Candreva  -- chris () westnet com -- (914) 967-7816
WestNet Internet Services of Westchester
http://www.westnet.com/


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