Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC said this week that it added a new service to its arsenal of anti-spammer weapons called the Non-confirming Mailing List, or NML.
The NML is a database of Internet protocol addresses that “have demonstrated to be the sources” of mailing lists that do not fully verify the e-mail addresses on the lists they own, MAPS said. The NML essentially is a list of IP addresses that do not use fully verified opt-in methods to sign up people for e-mail.
“The Non-confirming Mailing List is a database of the IP addresses of sites which are sending e-mail to mailing lists which contain e-mail addresses whose owners have not granted permission to have their e-mail addresses included in the mailing list,” said Susan Tait, manager of online operations for MAPS. “In other words, if they are sending you e-mail which you did not request and you did not give them permission to include you in their mailing list, then they are eligible to be included in the NML.”
Tait also said that an IP address will not be listed on the NML until it has been “proven conclusively” that there is a problem with the address.
“We aren't about spite listings, only about consumer awareness,” she said. “In that regard we are not unlike Consumer Reports, or a restaurant reviewer.”
MAPS, Redwood City, CA, operates the Realtime Blackhole List, a list of IP addresses of suspected spammers, as well as other anti-spam services.
The NML is not part of MAPS's RBL+ subscription service. The company offers a standard subscription rate of $850 per enabled IP address, up to 1,000 users for a query service and $700 per name server for a transfer service. For small businesses, it charges a subscription rate of $100 per enabled IP address for the query service only. The query service is free for personal and hobby Web site owners.
