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ISPs That Actively Combat SPAM?
The Llama King asks: "Like a good netizen, I do my part to report spam. But most Internet providers merely respond with a canned e-mail and it's hard to tell whether action was taken - or when. I know a lot of abuse desks are overwhelmed and spammers can get a free ride if they pick their targets carefully. Occasionally I'll get a personalized response, and even notification that a spammer's access and/or Web site has been nuked - but that's rare, and seems to be getting rarer. What ISPs are best at responding to spam complaints in a timely fashion, both in terms of killing e-mail accounts and shutting down sites that have been spamvertised?"
The fact that you didn't get a response from an ISP when reporting a spammer shouldn't be taken as an afront. Any ISP with a large subscriber base is almost certainly deluged with spam reports and some/many of them are false reports from clueless users. Think of the reports that flood in when the Outlook worm du jor starts filling peoples mailboxes with crap. Think of all the complaints that flood in about real spam, penis enlargement, earn cash now, Nigerian needs help.
The ISP staff is not capable of answering each message individually. At best they will scan through the reports that they get and act on the ones that they think are legit. But, they have another hundred thousand to process after that so, don't expect a personalized response and, if you're looking for some kind of credit or pat on the back for reporting it, just forget it!
Most large ISPs today subscribe to inbound RBLs as well as possibly doing some local filtering with the likes of SPAM Assassin. But, they can't be too restrictive in their policies as there are actually people who subscribe to lists and expect mail that any normal person would regard as pure spam. A growing number of ISPs are actually implementing user configurable spam blocking lists so you can set your own rules.
These same large ISPs usually don't hesitate to act if the spammer is one of their own subscribers. The accounts *are* terminated. But, because of the scope of the problem, it is a thankless and never-ending battle that they trudge through with resentment.
If you have a *serious* spam problem and *must* get the ISP to act on it, the best way is going to be via telephone but, you will have to work to get past level one tech support.