
Spamtraps are not the problem
When you go to the doctor, do you want the doctor to treat your symptoms or do you want the doctor to give you treatment for the disease that is causing the symptoms? If you’re like most people, the answer will be “I want the doctor to treat the disease.” In my line of work,…
Back to Basics: Where does Spamhaus get off…
One of the more popular questions that come up deals with the use of DNSBLs[acp footnote]DNS-based Blocking Lists[/acp], especially Spamhaus’ lists, by ISPs[acp footnote]Internet Service Providers[/acp]. The question usually goes something like this: Who are the operators of that list and what gives them the right to regulate commerce? Are they run by a government or…
Proper Assumptions
I’m at the Messaging, Malware, & Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group meeting this week. After all of the sessions on Tuesday were over, I was speaking with a colleague from another company about how I handle some aspects of providing client advice and he suggested that I write that down in a blog post. When dealing…

Deliverability Relationship Marketing
A teaser (King 2013) for a Delivera whitepaper by Ken Magill provided blog fodder for Laura Atkins over at Word to the Wise (Atkins 2013). Ken’s premise, with which Laura agrees, is that ESPs which start talking about the wonderful relationships they have with folks at Spamhaus or at various ISPs should cause you to be…
Why Does All of This Matter?
Sometimes, you just want to beat your head against your desk, put your head in your hands and cry, and then beat your head against the wall. I’m kind of at that point at the moment. Why? “Probably,” as Jack Handy once said about the reason why raindrops would be God’s tears, “because of something…
The Eleventh Commandment
When you do business with a government agency, at just about any level, you surrender a certain amount of privacy. Whatever you give to the agency is likely going to be subject to so-called “sunshine” laws that go by names like “Freedom of Information” or “Freedom of Access.” Recently, some sportsmen have discovered this the hard…