Super-Net Spam Information

Q. What is spam?
A. Spam is the act of sending unsolicited bulk or commercial e-mail to a user.

Q. What's wrong with spam?
A. First, many spam messages include objectionable content. Most people don't want to receive ads for pornographic web sites, adult videos or Viagra. Even when the content is not objectionable, the sheer volume of messages is annoying to most users.

Q. What's wrong with an unsolicited offer every once in a while?
A. Super-Net mail servers handle about 1.8 million requests for SMTP service per day. Currently, 92.5% of these requests are rejected due to our spam prevention measures. Not only would the roughly 1.65 million extra requests per day be granted, but far more requests would be initiated if spammers knew we were "spam friendly".

Q. Why is legitimate mail sent to me being blocked as spam? My friend/service/business partner is not a spammer!
A. It is NEVER Super-Net's goal to block legitimate mail. If legitimate mail to you is being blocked, we apologize. Super-Net has been forced to take preventative measures to protect its users and resources from abuse as a result of the deluge of spam flowing through the Internet. Please read on to learn what can be done to avoid and correct this action.

Q. What should I do if mail to me is being blocked?
A. Blocked mail might be caused by something other than spam filters. We need certain information in order to determine why the mail has been blocked, or if spam prevention measures are even the cause. If you contact us regarding a block, please have the following information available:

* The email address of the sender.
* The IP address of the sender.
* The mail server the sender is using.

OR

* An EXACT copy of the bounce message or error message to the sender.

If you do not have this information available, there is no way we can help you.

Q. Why are some legitimate messages considered spam?
A. There are many reasons that mail can be flagged as spam. The most common reason that innocent mail is flagged as spam is that someone else using the same service as the sender of your mail has been doing the spamming. In cases like this, one bad apple spoils the whole barrel. We aren't picking on you or the sender. Everyone associated with the sender's service is blocked. Since they share the same service, your sender has become collateral damage. Once the sender's service fixes the problem by establishing proper security measures, the block is removed.

Another very common reason is that your sender really is sending spam without realizing it. Spammers are persistent. As more and more Internet providers have installed spam filters, spammers have resorted to using a viruses, trojan horses, and spyware to aid in spamming. They send the malware to infect someone else's computer. This target machine will open what is known as an "open proxy." The spammer then uses this target to relay spam to others. This is most prevalent on Cable and DSL modems and is now the most common source of spam today. When this happens, the target machine is blocked since it truly is the source of the spam, whether the owner knows it or not. The spammer doesn't care that the target machine's owner has been blocked. They just move on to someone else. This usually can be fixed by installing an anti-virus product and keeping the virus definitions up to date. Following safe email practices, such as not opening attachments that are unexpected, also reduces the threat of becoming an unknowing spammer.

Q. How does Super-Net prevent spam?
A. Super-Net uses a program that scans each message for various technical merits that many spam messages share in common and tags them as ***POSSIBLE SPAM*** to allow each individual user to customize their defense against spam using the mail filter rules present in nearly all modern mail programs. If the number of matches reaches a certain level, the message is rejected by our server upon receipt. In addition to this program, Super-Net uses several different outside services to prevent spam as well. The addresses of these services are listed at the end of this document along with a short description of how they work.

Q. Does this mean I should send you my spam so your scanner will work better?
A. No, as every message you receive has already passed through the scanner, it will not help to send us the message again if it was not tagged the first time. Unfortunately, there is no foolproof way to determine if a message is spam or not, so invariably some spam will get through from time to time. However, we and the people who make the scanner, are continually looking for ways to improve its effectiveness. If you want to report spam, you should consider signing up with SpamCop which will be mentioned later on in this FAQ.

Q. About these services you use, how do they work?
A. The services all have one thing in common. They are based on IP addresses (a series of numbers), not domain names (like @sssnet.com or @aol.com). When mail enters our mail system, our mail server checks several lists to see if the IP address of the sender is on any of them. If it is, depending on the list, we send an error message to the sender informing them that their address is listed, or their message gets a score added to it for appearing on the list. Below are descriptions of each individual service:

Spamhaus

http://www.spamhaus.org/sbl/index.lasso

Spamhaus is a group in England that has set up many spam trap addresses. A spam trap is an address that nobody has ever used, and has never been given out to the public, yet has an easy to guess user account such as joe@sssnet.com. When mail is sent to one of these addresses, a human being evaluates the mail and determines where it came from. The IP is then added to their database and blocked. After continued abuse, Spamhaus will notify the ISP of the offending user. They present the spams and other evidence to the ISP in order to have them removed. If the ISP will not co-operate (presumably they're aiding the spammer), the entire ISP will be blocked for supporting spam operations. Another feature of Spamhaus is ROKSO - the Registry of Known Spam Operations. This is a truly priceless list. This is a list of people or organizations that have been thrown off of a minimum of 3 ISP's for violating spam policies. If IP addresses are found to have been registered to these people, the addresses are immediately blocked to prevent spam from even beginning. This list is a little harder to get off because the entire ISP is blocked. The legitimate sender would need to convince the ISP to reform (highly unlikely unless enough users threaten to leave). Typically, the sender must find a new provider. Spamhaus is the only list that we currently use to block a sender outright.

SpamCop

http://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml

SpamCop is a fairly new and fresh way of fighting spam. You, the user, have the ability to report spam to this service. When a user receives a piece of spam, they copy the entire contents of the spam (including full headers) and send it to SpamCop. SpamCop examines the headers of the mail and does two things. First, it notifies the administrators of the service responsible for sending the spam. This gives them the opportunity to correct the problem. Second, it adds an entry for that IP address to the SpamCop database. SpamCop has a complicated method of determining how much mail it must receive from a given IP before the IP is actually blocked. This prevents a malicious person with a grudge from adding someone to the list. The great part about SpamCop is that there is no guesswork on whether the mail is spam or not. The system doesn't decide, the user does. After all, spam is about conSent, not conTent. SpamCop is the easiest service to be added to, but also the easiest to be removed from. SpamCop automatically removes the listing 48 hours after it was entered as long as no new spam from that IP is reported. If new spam is received, the timer is reset back to 48 hours.

We use a couple other, smaller lists, primarily to try to fight zombie based spam. These are NJABL and SORBS. You can visit their sites for more information if you wish. Again, these lists are only scored against, and not used to reject mail. Lastly, we've developed our own program to fight spam as well. We essentially have created our own list of "bad netizens" using both human and computer input. This list will automatically remove people listed on it after 24 hours. However, if they're seen again, they will be listed for 48, then 72 and so on. If we've ween the same IP 7 times, they will be permanently banned. This also has greatly reduced the amount of spam we receive.

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