From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Fri Jul 04 2003 - 14:56:50 MDT
David McFadzean wrote,
> Update: aol.com is still rejecting messages though the MX records were
> updated 3 days ago. It appears now that the MX records were not
> the problem.
I'm sorry my suggestion didn't work. I keyed off your statement that AOL
was rejecting extropy.org saying "550 DIRECT CONNECTION FROM DIAL-UP OR
DYNAMIC-IP DENIED" and that this was incorrect. I therefore jumped on the
second likely reason. However, after doing a little further research, I am
beginning to think that AOL's original error message might be correct. (Or
at least I can see why AOL thinks it is.)
Instead of owning their own network, Javien seems to be utilizing the
services of an ISP, with their particular IP addresses being assigned from a
larger block of address owned by the ISP. This could be the exact situation
that AOL is intentionally trying to block. They deliberately intend to
block modems, DSL connections and dynamic connections through ISPs. They
only allow permanent direct owners of an IP to send bulk e-mail.
1. The Extropians List is being sent out from tick.javien.com at
209.115.169.3.
2. The name tick.javien.com is just an alias that points to the real name
of javien2-3.spots.ab.ca, and it is in the spots.ab.ca domain.
3. The spots.ab.ca domain is an address range for Spots InterConnect, Inc.
They are registered as an Internet Service Provider in Alberta, Canada.
My guess is that extropy.org, extropy.com, sl4.org, lucifer.com, javien.com,
and everybody else hosted by Spots InterConnect are similarly being blocked.
You might talk to Spots InterConnect to confirm if all their subscribers are
being blocked. If so, they may be able to help resolve this issue at their
level by informing AOL that these addresses are not dynamic. However, I am
not sure AOL will respond, because this bone-headed policy is intentional on
their part.
This is apparently a common problem for all mailing lists. AOL not only
blocks certain type of addresses as above, they also block on keywords
indicating messages that are sexual, extremely political, violent, racist or
subversive. They also will trigger from subscribers pressing the "report
spam" button. They also block mail if any intervening ISP is blocked. It
may not even be extropy or javien that is blocked, but some other customer
of that same ISP. There are so many ways to get blocked, that it seems to
be happening to most mailing lists with AOL subscribers. I am seeing many
other mailing lists suddenly having the same problems.
In any case, the problem is apparently well known and definitely inside AOL.
Their subscribers may simply need to understand that their mail is being
censored. The Extropians List is still available to them via the web bbs
interface, so nobody is completely cut off.
-- Harvey Newstrom, CISM, CISSP, IAM, IBMCP, GSEC Certified InfoSec Manager, Certified IS Security Pro, NSA-certified InfoSec Assessor, IBM-certified Security Consultant, SANS-cert GSEC <HarveyNewstrom.com> <Newstaff.com>
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