I worked for a web company that Spamhaus harrassed a few years ago. The head at Spamhaus kept accusing the company of stuff they didn’t do and of having associations with spammers whom they never even knew and he drove the company into the ground by getting their email blocked all over the net. His accusations ultimately resulted in the company’s demise, the loss of my job, and the foreclosure of my home.

Now, I see that I’m on some kind of a block list, and I’ve never sent spam in my life. I have a small membership based graphics design business, and now, I can’t get my emails to my customers. That’s totally crazy. And I don’t see why Yahoo and other major sites bow down to this insane organization.

I’m just waiting for someone to sue the hell of out them for their illegal practices, which is clearly a violation of American rights. I would love to see them hit with a major class action lawsuit.

Spam is as big a threat to the Internet as anything out there,

There are a few things Mr. Stanley and Mr. Hayes fail to take into consideration, or conveniently fail to mention…

As an ISP - I choose wether or not I want to use blacklists
As an ISP - I choose wehter or not I want to host spammers
As a USER - I choose my ISP

As a SPAMMER - I do everything I can to take those choices away from users and hosts so that my unwelcome message will be heard by all.

The Internet is perhpas the only real democracy left out there, if I like your service, I use it, if not, I have other options, if enough peope elect to use your service, you stay in business, if not, you have to seek other work. And our options become more and more with each day that goes by. If Spamhaus was as reckless as is claimed by people on that side of the fence, ISP’s would not use it (just as many have elected not to reject based on SPEWS or SORBS since they seem to list nothing smaller than a /24 netblock) Spamhaus and Spamcop bock the IP addresses spam comes from not the entire /24 and not the entire ISP, they then contact the owner of the IP space under their abuse contact to let them know why - if the ISP complies the blacklist entry is removed. If an ISP habitually hosts spammers, I hope all their IP space is blacklisted by everyone on the planet - why? Because these bastards are profitting off of my suffering, while I turn away millions of dollars in business for the sake of being ethical?

I work for a sizeable hosting company, I deal with the people at Spamhaus on a regular basis, and I kick spammers off my network daily. That is my choice, the thousands of emails I am bombarded with every day that have nothing to do with my work or my interests are not my choice. If left to their own devices spammers would just continuously push terabytes of unwanted email all day every day until either the internet stopped working or someone (Like Spamhaus) did something about it.

Who is the real promoter of freedom of speech here?

Nice to see Emailbattles publish Stanley’s rant too.

September 13, 2006 - Judge Charles P. Kocoras grants e360’s motion

YOU could be liable for damages for using Spamhaus Illegal Blacklisting and or
Using Information provided by spamhaus to close or deny service!

This also includes bowing to Blackmail tactics used by Spamhaus

Summary of the Federal Court’s Judgment in this matter:

1.  Spamhaus is ordered to pay $11.7 million in compensatory damages to
e360Insight.

2.  The Court issued a permanent injunction as follows:

- Spamhaus shall not take any action to cause email sent by Plaintiffs
or their affiliates,
subsidiaries, or related companies owned or controlled by Plaintiffs to
be blocked, delayed,
altered, or interrupted in any way (including, without limitation, by
listing Plaintiffs on Spamhaus’s ROKSO list, within an SBL listing on
Spamhaus’s website, using blacklisting
technology in concert or conjunction with others, or taking any other
action to cause any such interference) unless Spamhaus can demonstrate
by clear and convincing evidence that Plaintiffs have violated relevant
United States law. Such clear and convincing evidence may only be shown
after proving Plaintiffs with an opportunity to review any alleged
offending email, including a review of the email header and content (in
its entirety), and providing Plaintiffs with an opportunity to show the
offending email was not sent in violation of United States law to the
satisfaction of a reasonable person. If such clear and convincing
evidence is shown, then and only then may Spamhaus list the Internet
Protocol (IP) address, and only the IP address, from which the
offending email was sent on its website.

- Spamhaus shall not list entire networks or ranges of IP addresses
owned or operated
by Plaintiffs simply because they are registered in the Plaintiffs’
names or physical addresses
without meeting the clear and convincing standard for the IP address in
question.

- Spamhaus shall post, within five business days of the date of this
order, on its website
at both the main home page and at the ROKSO jump page, a message of 1
inch by 1 inch, the text of which is to be reasonably approved by
Plaintiffs, and which, generally, indicates that Plaintiffs were
erroneously listed on the website as spammers and that Plaintiffs are
not spammers. Defendant Spamhaus shall leave such message on its site
for a period of six months.

- Spamhaus shall not contact or cause others to contact any customers
or suppliers of the
Plaintiffs in efforts to cause said customers or suppliers to cease
doing business with Plaintiffs.

- Spamhaus shall not contact or cause others to contact any customers
or suppliers of Plaintiffs and allege or assert that Plaintiffs are
spammers or other like term.

A complete Case History including all evidence and documentation can be
found at www.e360insight.com.  This site includes all documents as they
were submitted to the Court.

This ruling confirms e360insight’s position that Spamhaus.org is a
fanatical, vigilante organization that operates in the United States
with blatant disregard for U.S. law.  In addition, e360insight has
proven that Spamhaus routinely exposes their customers and volunteers
to extreme legal risk by continuing to engage in illegal blacklisting,
defamation, extortion and blackmail in the name of fighting spam.

Can’t win ‘em all.

You’ve found that sweet spot on getting lots of comments that are of little value (perhaps this one too). I’ve never had a run in with Spamhaus, but I have been caught up in the SPEWS dolphin unsafe tuna nets a couple of times. I’ve found that when I get the complaint about it, usually phrased “you need to get your ISP to get you off the blacklist”, a reply along the lines of “since it was your ISP rejecting the email, you need to get them to put us on their whitelist.” It works rather well… not only does the complainant find out that their ISP is running a rather inattentive anti-spam operation, but they start to wonder about other email they’ve not received.

I do have to admit, nobody’s been hurt nor have has any property been destroyed. Though I have often had the urge to severely pummel some of the people responsible for sending email my way, that really is a matter unrelated to spam.

Keep speaking truth-to-power and all that, and we’ll keep chortling.

Your problems with Spamhaus may be legitimate, but when you start calling them terrorists, you are mangling the english language, and diminishing the value of everything else you have to say.

Until Spamhaus blows up your homes, kidnaps your wives or murders your babies, you might want to choose another name for Spamhaus’ actions.

Frankly, neither side of this screamfest looks rational to those of us in the bleachers. You’re all so doggoned mad you can’t see straight, or listen to those who do.

When threatened with legal action, Spamhaus told me that there’s nothing illegal about maintaining a list of IP addresses. I was also told that others have tried to file lawsuits, but have failed.

I have since started a crusade for those of us that are innocent business people trying to make an honest living. Our business can’t survice without reliable delivery of VALID e-mail. Spamhaus is preventing us from communicating with our customers.

I’ve tried to get my IPs delisted, but according to Spamhaus only the ISP can do that. Have you ever tried getting a multi-billion dollar company to take the time to get a few IP addresses delisted? It’s not exactly on their to-do list. I’m still working on that.

If you’d like to be a part of this effort, please find a way to let me know. You can contact me at imnottoonice at yahoo.com.

Here’s what we’re doing:

1) Since my ISP is a VERY large provider with VERY deep pockets, I’m working with them to drag Spamhaus through the Courts and into submission.

2) I’m also doing the research with my legal team to see if “Restraint of Trade” laws apply in this case.

3) When our e-mail is being rejected by a mail server that uses Spamhaus blacklists, I’m contacting the providers directly to let them know about Spamhaus tactics and terrorism. I’m sure they have no idea that Spamhaus is preventing valid e-mail from being delivered.

I am not a spammer. I hate spam just as much as the next guy. However, I don’t think that Spamhaus has a clue and is out of touch with reality. I believe that their days are numbered, so I’m doing all that I can to make sure that happens sooner than later.

If anyone has any advice or relevant information, please let me know.