From: "Geo." 

"Tony Williams"  wrote in message
news:3dfc2706{at}w3.nls.net...
> Why get an unfiltered account when I can pay my ISP to do the filtering
> for me - they'll almost certainly do a better job of it.

Because it gives you control of how filtering is done? If all you want the
ISP to do is tag emails instead of bouncing them so they don't fill your
mailbox then you are better off doing it yourself where you control what
and how things get tagged. Outlook has mail rules that are ideal for this.
In fact you should do it backwards, tag mail from people you DO know and
file the rest in the spam folder then just go thru those once a week or so
looking for valid emails and discarding the rest.

> Yes, I could set up custom software and filters but the ISP handles mail
> for all its users so it spot a spammer who sends mail to one user and
> set up a filter for everyone else before they even get hit.

True but it's a losing battle. The way to make effective mail filters is
the same technique you use to firewall something, lock everything out then
start allowing things you want in. ISP's can't do that because what one
customer want's another doesn't want.

> The many private blacklists are where we're at now, and it is difficult
> for people to get off them.

I like that.

> Putting an IP into a blacklist is only half
> the story because spammers change addresses all the time and some poor
> sod is going to inherit their blacklisted address.

A blacklist is not about blocking a spammer, it's about blocking sections
of the internet that are known to be friendly to spam and it's up to the
people who own those addresses to change that. A blacklist is a motivator
to get ISP's to clean up their act.

> An authoritative
> blacklist could reduce the collateral damage by delisting addresses when
> the spammer has moved on. Like I said, I don't think it'll happen.

RBL's are not meant to do anything to the spammer, they are meant to
motivate the spam friendly ISP. The problem is the spammers are willing to
pay a lot of money for access and some ISP's can't resist, they think
allowing the spammer on is a good idea. By treating this like it was
radioactive waste and marking the addresses the spammers use as
"contaminated" it increases the cost to the spam friendly ISP in
the hopes they will realize it's not profitable.

When dealing with Ferangi, taking the profit out of it is the only way to
motivate them. The more difficult it is to get off the blacklists the more
expensive the cleanup..

Geo.

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