Re: [dvd-discuss] EFF opposes blacklisting spammers

[Scott A Crosby <crosby(at)qwes.math.cmu.edu>]

FWIW, I have never been affiliated with MAPS in any way. I have never used
their (no longer free) services. I have never been listed with them.
Nobody I personally know has had ANY affiliation with them.

Thus, my contempt is born from their policies and actions, not a desire
for revenge.


On Thu, 18 Oct 2001, Bryan Taylor wrote:

> The EFF came out with its position on anti-spam blacklisting:
> http://www.eff.org/effector/current.html#II
>
> "But blacklisting is interfering with the delivery of a significant amount of
> non-spam email. Systems administrators who will not adopt the suggested
> anti-spam policies find themselves unable to deliver their non-spamming users'

> The anti-blacklist argument seems to be based on a non-existent right to not be
> ostrasized by private entitites.

IMHO, MAPS is a vigilante group, dispensing vigilante justice.

For example:
  MAPS lists are NOT openly published, but a closely guarded secret:

        It is very important to our legal and civil position that no one
        ever acquire a full copy of the MAPS RBL without indemnifying us.
                            (http://maps.vix.com/rbl/usage.html)
  [http://www.dotcomeon.com/]

Why is this?

--

Why did they block the ISP that hosts Peacefire?
  http://www.dotcomeon.com/peacefire.html

So, the vigilante group now demands that not only you don't spam, but you
have to discriminate on your customers based on their speech; if they sell
certain software, you have to kick'em off?

--

Hell, they even bitch about how people set up their mailing list servers
(and at the same time don't follow their procedures)
  http://www.server.com/Misc/RBL/
  http://www.dotcomeon.com/yesmail.html

More interesting, why has MAPS been blocking ORBS (a competitor also
creating blacklists)? Even to the point of null-routing *ALL* traffic to
them that goes over the abovenet backbone, and also taking them off the
internet?
  http://www.dotcomeon.com/hallofshame.html

I hate to say it, but they're not just spam-blocking anymore; like any
vigilante group, they're out for more power and terror. And they're
keeping their database secret, the better for more backroom dealings.

Check out: http://www.dotcomeon.com/blackholed.html, and
http://www.dotcomeon.com/ The guy is a ranting nut, but he is a gold mine
of information, and who knows, there may be a kernel of truth in his
rants; at least a couple of his predictions have come to pass since he
wrote it.


As to whether or not I think that anti-spam blacklisting is good, the jury
is still out on that. But the way secretive MAPS does it, frankly, scares
me.  They're a vigilante group that must be stopped.

Scott

--
No DVD movie will ever enter the public domain, nor will any CD. The last CD
and the last DVD will have moldered away decades before they leave copyright.
This is not encouraging the creation of knowledge in the public domain.