A judge has denied a request by Web-hosting company Media3 Technologies LLC, Pembroke, MA, to have nearly 1,500 of its IP addresses removed from Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC's Realtime Blackhole List.
The court this week did, however, bar MAPS, Redwood City, CA, from adding any additional Media3 IP addresses to its RBL, a list of alleged spammers.
A hearing has been set for Monday in U.S. District Court in Boston.
MAPS provides system administrators and end-users with resources to prevent abuse through the sending of unsolicited commercial e-mail, or spam. Its RBL is a real-time database containing the addresses of Internet sites that it has determined allow their users to send spam directly or to profit from its delivery.
The company said its dispute with Media3 arose after the company refused to require its Web-hosting customers to stop advertising their Web sites by sending large amounts of unsolicited e-mail. The messages advertised sites hosted by Media3.
“Media3's IP addresses have been listed in the RBL since at least last month, many for far longer,” said Anne P. Mitchell, director of legal and public affairs at MAPS. “The proprietors of these Web sites send massive amounts of unsolicited mail from an account with an [Internet service provider], then when that account is shut down for violating that ISP's terms of service, they just move on to another ISP.”
Media3 said sending spam is “clearly” against its policy and that MAPS was “misrepresenting” the facts and “mischaracterizing” its actions.
