Spam: I’m still catching up, but this is just plain hilarious. Pure, solid-gold, insanity. Verizon.net, the ISP branch of the US telco, has decided that the easiest way to fix their spam problems (uh, spam-receiving problems, that is), is now blocking inbound email from non-U.S. IP ranges:
A little birdie with insider knowledge has confirmed that Verizon is blocking all international IP space from RIPE, APNIC, and more, and is only unblocking specific domains, based on their IP address, when complaints are made and escalated.
According to the source ‘the security team management thinks this is going to stop their inbound spam problems.’
Well, it may stop their inbound spam problem, but it’s also going to stop that pesky ‘wanted email making it to their customers’ problem.
A quick check from my Ireland-hosted colo box does indeed indicate that this is still the case, and I can’t connect to relay.verizon.net (206.46.170.12):
: jm ftp 1...; telnet 206.46.170.12 25 Trying 206.46.170.12... telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Connection timed outComments closed