And here is QSL.net taking the high ground - at least higher than ARRL... 73, Art W6XD ----------------------------------------------------------------
To: qsl-net@mailman.qth.net From: "Alan L. Waller" <k3tkj@qsl.net> Subject: [QSL-Net] ARRL/Earthlink Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 11:55:55 -0400
Hi Ken and others....
Thanks for your input on the QSL/ARRL/QTH spamming thread.
Here's the basic problem with ARRL and QSL, you or a spammer can download the FCC database of active US calls..... Append @arrl.net or @qsl.net to this list and you are GUARANTEED to have every user on both systems since we both only allow the ham call as the mail address. BTW this works for every country database and is especially important at QSL because of the large number of non-US users.
VERY little Spam today comes through open relays, these have been hammered into submission by the blackhole lists and other than a few in the Far East they are under reasonable control and monitored by several sites. The majority of Spam is relayed through OPEN PROXY SERVERS, as they are numerous, are usually associated with big bandwidth and are totally transparent to a Spammer. You cannot trace Spam through OPS's as there is no logging and even if there was the owner of the OPS does not even know it is happening.
The ARRL's position seems to be that it is not their problem to do any filtering for Spam at the server.
QTH lists are double opt-in so as long as a spammer does not subscribe his drivel will bounce to the list owner. The only reason we Spam filter QTH is to give a bit of relief to the list owners. It is not needed to keep the lists Spam free.
QSL has always had server Spam filtering and will always do so. I won't publically describe how this is done, although for the interested I will give you the details off list. QSL, in it's Acceptable USE Policy, emphasizes the fact that QSL mail has no guarantees of delivery or suitability. I tell everyone who asks...if the mail is that important to you DO NOT use QSL. I filter spam heavily, I block abusers instantly and the system is not perfect. Occasionally innocents users are blocked but 99.9% of the messages blocked are Spam. The number of messages rejected daily is 6 digits so it does work.
73, Al