[Leaplist] SPAMCOP.net

[Chris]

Sun State Martial Arts wrote:

> Robert Tate wrote:
>
>> I have been using spamcop.net for a long time as part of my mail spam 
>> filter checks. NO MORE
>>
>> I stopped getting email on the morning of the 25th and finally had 
>> time to check into it. A lot of my email comes through Earthlink (for 
>> an old address I have had for ever) and in looking at it I found the 
>> following in my email report:
>>
>> Relay attempts from known spammers:
>> ........
>>     pop-knobcone.atl.sa.earthlink.net [207.69.195.64]: 1 Time(s)
>>     pop-sarus.atl.sa.earthlink.net [207.69.195.72]: 1 Time(s)
>>  ..................
>>     smarth-dorada.atl.sa.earthlink.net [207.69.195.98]: 22 Time(s)
>>     smarth-faced.atl.sa.earthlink.net [207.69.195.99]: 25 Time(s)
>>     smarth-marmette.atl.sa.earthlink.net [207.69.195.101]: 19 Time(s)
>>     smarth-osier.atl.sa.earthlink.net [207.69.195.100]: 30 Time(s)
>>     smarth-petite.atl.sa.earthlink.net [207.69.195.102]: 16 Time(s)
>>     smarth-shelduck.atl.sa.earthlink.net [207.69.195.97]: 25 Time(s)
>>     smtpgate.subscribers.sferia.net [193.41.112.9]: 1 Time(s)
>>     taz5.fiberhosting.net [208.111.3.146]: 16 Time(s)
>>
>> NOTE that taz5. fiberhosting.net is on the list too!
>> I hope this gets through to the list and that anyone using 
>> spamcop.net finds out about this so they can recover too.
>>
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>>   
>
> From what I understand earthlink is on and off of that list all the 
> time due to the fact they DO allow spammers to work via their network 
> until they get blacklisted.
>
>
Yep, that's correct. I know little about spamcop.net, but...
doesn't your spam package allow you to have override, or
exempted whitelists?

I've had to do that with a customer recently who was dealing
with a Chinese netblock identified as a spam haven, but who
needed email from a customer in that netblock. His customer
had a dynamic IP, so I had to whitelist the whole netblock. So
he'll get a little more Chinese spam, but he can at least get
emails from his customer.

Blacklists can definitely bite you on the fanny - you have to strike a
balance between utter paranoia and usability - didn't the succesor
the the SPEWS list block out something like nearly 50% of IP
addresses?

The bottom line for spamcop.net - in their own words:
"the SCBL is aggressive and often errs on the side of blocking mail"

Caveat emptor.

I've also been using the University of Alberta greylist recently, with
pretty good results. (Plus, I really like Bob Beck for giving us the
exquisite phrase, "fling spam at the masses faster than a poop-
fight in a marmoset cage")

Cheers,

Chris