Business subscribe to one or more of these lists (sometimes indirectly – either because they use a service that compiles several lists into one, or because their anti-SPAM provider uses the lists).  If they receive an email from an IP address in the blacklist, they refuse to accept it, thus protecting themselves from SPAM.

So, how do you get on a blacklist?  Unfortunately, it’s relatively easy, and is often through no fault of yours.  The outcome though is that emails you send may not get to where they are intended – if you are sending legitimate email to a recipient, and that recipient subscribes to a service that directly or indirectly lists your IP address, then they aren’t going to receive your email.  The inconvenience and frustration is beyond words!

Right now, we’ve become aware of a range of IP addresses belonging to Vodafone NZ subscribers being blacklisted by the ‘UCEprotect’ site, located in Germany.  Even worse, the particular site may be a scam, allegedly demanding money from Vodafone before they’ll correct their list.  (We stress we don’t believe Vodafone are any more than an innocent victim in this, and we know they are working very hard to resolve it)

These aren’t always scams.  For a large ISP, like Vodafone or Xtra, all it takes is one of their many subscribers to start sending large wads of spam, or to have a compromised server, and a blacklist will start to take effect.  One bad subscriber can impact the email service for everyone else.  That’s why we’ve seen significantly tighter security over outbound email connections.  Every ISP has a different set of techniques, but they often result in password securing outbound email (not part of the original email rules!) and using weird port settings.  It makes setting up email more challenging, but ultimately more secure.

All the more reason that SPAM must be stopped.