[Mimedefang] Black Listed

[Ken Morley]

Mark:

This is a little off-topic for this forum, but I'll try to help.

This is a common problem that frequently happens.  Here's the probable
scenario:

One of AmeriTech's customer sent a bunch of spam.  
A recipient submitted the spam to an RBL.
The RBL examined the IP address of the spammer and determined that the IP
block is assigned to AmeriTech.
The RBL complained to AmeriTech.
Ameritech did not respond to the RBL that the problem had been corrected.
The RBL put AmeriTech's entire IP block on the RBL list.
You were blacklisted because AmeriTech's entire IP block is on the RBL list.

If it's not the RBL that took the actions above, it's the ISP that the
recipient uses.

This is indeed AmeriTech's problem.  Contact their technical support and
explain which RBL they need to contact.  Once AmeriTech has taken action to
the RBL/ISP's satisfaction, the RBL/ISP will drop the blacklist.

I've seen this happen many times before.  In the Tampa area, Time Warner /
BrightHouse is very aggressive.  For example, if a Verizon customer sends
spam to a TW customer and the customer complains, TW will attempt to contact
Verizon to get the issue resolved.  If Verizon ignores the complain or
doesn't take *decisive* action to TW's satisfaction, TW will blacklist some
or all of Verizon's IP address blocks.  At that point, it affects many
Verizon customers and the ensuing calls force Verizon to take action.  I'm
just using Verizon as an example here.

So, call AmeriTech and tell them that they need to address the RBL/ISP's
concerns about spam sent by an AmeriTech customer.

Good luck with it.