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AOL Placed on Spam Blacklist

Posted by Zonk on from the it-wasn't-there-before? dept.

Hacker-X writes "According to this item over at Spam Kings, AOL has had a large swath of its IP addresses added to the Mail Abuse Prevention Systems (MAPS) Real-time Blackhole List (RBL). The RBL is used by many corporations and large ISPs to filter spam. MAPS evidently started blocking the AOL mail servers less than 24 hours after filing a complaint with AOL's abuse desk. The block was initiated in response to spam emanating from AOL mail servers."

3 of 364 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Overzealous by Saxton · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, it looks like things got turned around anyway:

    [UPDATE: Looks like MAPS changed its mind. As of Tuesday afternoon ET (GMT -4:00), AOL's listing at the MAPS site is gone, and a lookup shows AOL's mail servers no longer seem to be on the MAPS RBL list. No word yet on whether AOL resolved the spam problems, or if MAPS just decided to give AOL more time.]

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  2. Re:Overzealous by Matts · · Score: 5, Informative

    You need to look at the facts a bit closer. AOL *has* cleaned up its act, more than anyone else on the entire internet. It's stunningly clean for an ISP of its size.

    This was caused by one spam. Let me just repeat that: out of 60 million users MAPS saw one spam coming from AOL's outbound mail servers.

    Now AOL does have a set of IPs out of which some spam does emanate - the rlyIPXX block (64.12.138.(7-9)). This is the IPs that they redirect direct-to-port25 mail through, and they actively encourage people to block this range. It's been publicly stated that they intend to shut this activity down real soon now, but in the meantime most people just block that range and don't see a problem.

    Check the anti-spam newsgroups and mailing lists some time. AOL is hugely respected in anti-spam terms these days. And deservedly so.

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  3. Re:Overzealous by jenkin+sear · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have to agree. We run some very large (1MM subscribers) mailing lists for our customers - not spam, just company announcements and such. AOL had a great process for getting whitelisted with them- they checked that you were legit, that your mail servers handled bounces correctly, and that your systems were rfc whatever compliant.

    Compared to Yahoo and MSN/Hotmail, AOL is completely buttoned down and has their act together.

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