Section 2: The Internet Providers Anti-Spam Creed


  1. I will make sure that my company has the legal basis and contractual tools needed to promptly dispose of abusive customers, and refuse service to any new customer who shows signs that they will be or have previously been a "problem" customer. I shall utilize the right to refuse service to anyone if allowed by applicable law.

  2. I will immediately dispose of any customer who spams or attempts to spam in any way.

  3. I will immediately dispose of any customer who breaks into computers or attempts to break into computers.

  4. I will immediately dispose of any customer who attempts to degrade, destabilize or otherwise harm my network, my computers or any other component of the Internet.

  5. I will immediately dispose of any customer if spam is reported coming from any location that advertises web pages or mailboxes that are hosted on my network.

  6. I will establish and staff a department that addresses abuse incidents in a prompt fashion (taking action in minutes or hours, not days or weeks). This department will investigate spam and other abuse reports, particularly those incidents originating on my network. This department has the authority to immediately dispose of any customer found to be responsible for or benefiting from spam or other abuse.

  7. I will establish source verification, content filtering and source blocks on my mail servers to prevent them from accepting spam or other abuse, both from outside my network and from my own customers.

  8. I will impose network packet blocks of my choosing against any network or addresses that host spammers or hackers, or that have open relays or proxies that those network operators will not correct or eliminate.

  9. I will configure my network to prevent it from being used by spammers and make it resistant to hackers.

  10. I and my company will not buy or show any interest in any product sold by a spammer.
    (That includes refusing to buy from vendors that have spammed you.)

  11. I will promptly report all illegal activities to the authorities that are detected or reported, including illegal acts of my own customers.

  12. I will not sell or share my customers e-mail addresses or other data.

  13. I will not place customers e-mail addresses or other information in a position where it could be obtained by others.

  14. I will make sure that all computers and equipment under my control cannot be used by hackers or spammers.

  15. I will test all servers on my network or configure my network to make sure that only my customers can relay mail through my servers.

  16. I will use mail server software that indicates in the mail headers exactly where each received piece of mail came from and does nothing that could conceal a spammer.

  17. Any software that I provide to my customers will be in a configuration that prevents the software from being exploited by spammers or hackers.

  18. I will encourage or force customers to pick non-obvious passwords and require them to be changed at least once a year.

  19. I will prohibit my customers from running proxy software that could allow a spammer or hacker to gain that customers network privileges. I will dispose of a customer who refuses to stop using such software.

  20. I will prohibit FORMMAIL, Qmail, Lotus Domino and similar vulnerable mail-handling software from all servers on my network, including those containing customer web sites.

  21. I will make sure that every active IP address on my network has valid and unique forward and reverse DNS.

  22. Netblocks that I assign to my customers will be registered so that these subdivisions are visible to other Internet Providers using WHOIS.

  23. I will monitor my network for improper activity and dispose of those customers that are responsible.

The information is provided by the author and contributors "AS IS" and any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. In no event shall the author or contributors be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages (including, but not limited to, procurement of substitute goods of services; loss of use, data, or profits; or business interruption) however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in contract, strict liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of the use of this information even if advised of the possibility of such damage.

There is no obligation to provide any form of support, updates or assistance, and such queries may not receive any acknowledgment.


Related Topics

Section 1: The Internet Customers Anti-Spam Creed (HTML)

Section 3: Internet Customer Anti-Spam Responsibilities (HTML) [NEXT]

Section 5: Internet Provider Anti-Spam Responsibilities (HTML)

The Anti-Spam Index (HTML)


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