This story appeared in the March 2005 issue of Web Host Industry Review magazine. Click here to subscribe for free.
March 9, 2004 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Some industry observers have predicted a day when spam would make email unusable. And, in recent weeks, spam has put a stop to some email communications outright, though not for the reasons those observes might have expected. Rather than the overwhelming strain of the spam itself, it was the anticipation of the threat that caused the break, as US Internet provider Verizon began blocking all email - spam and otherwise - originating from Europe.
The company's across-the-board block on European email allowed ISPs to request that the ban be lifted on a case-by-case basis. But, according to reports from UK-based publications, the application process was slow, and provided little consolation.
Despite an uproar from Verizon customers who correspond with the UK, France, Germany, Russia and elsewhere, as well as cries of foul from European providers, Verizon has maintained the spam preclusion, calling it a welcome break from spam for the bulk of its users.
It is unclear exactly when the blanket spam blocking by Verizon began, even to the carrier's estimated 3 million customers, who apparently were not informed of the continental filtering. Michael Boni, an attorney with Kohn, Swift & Graf (kohnswift.com), the Philadelphia law firm representing the plaintiffs against Verizon, says the blocking of email to Verizon's US customers from Europe and other regions began late last year.
Boni says Verizon now faces two lawsuits as a result: a complaint from business users being heard by the American Arbitration Association as stipulated by Verizon's terms of service; and a class-action suit on behalf of all Verizon DSL and dialup customers in the US.
"The basic gist of both suits is that late last year - we don't know when but we think in late November or early December - Verizon began blocking IP addresses from whole countries," Boni says.
Those countries were mostly in Europe, but reports indicated the widespread email blocking applied to other nations, including China and New Zealand.
There was speculation that Verizon, a relative newcomer to Internet and email communications, was going through the kinds of spam-fighting growing pains that brought similar over-blocking from AOL and MSN in the past.
But there was no quarter for Verizon and its decision to maintain the blocking as both senders and would-be receivers teed off on the company online.
"I know there are a large number of European ISPs that are up in arms about this," Boni says. "There are businesses and entities that are up in arms because they're unable to communicate with Verizon business and family associates in the US. We've been contacted by several."
While the arbitration suit involves one Philadelphia company owner - an acquaintance of Boni's who complained business was suffering from the blockage of both email and business from the UK - and the class-action suit involves five named individuals, Boni referred to a growing dissent against the practice.
"There is a rather large, burgeoning number of disgruntled subscribers who are posting on newsgroups and forums on Web sites," he said.
While US reaction has also revolved around reportedly frustrating customer relations on the matter from Verizon, Europeans are viewing the national blocking as both ironic and insulting.
"I think the view would be it's absurd," says an attorney in the UK who asked not to be named. "It's absurd. That's what Europeans think. But you don't have to be from Europe to realize that." The American in Europe indicated that Verizon's policy, in addition to impacting business and personal email communication, perpetuated a criticism of current US policy and attitude. 'The US is off doing its own thing at the moment and is not aware of what's going on in the rest of the world," he said.
The attorney also referred to the hypocrisy of the idea that Europe is the major source of spam for US Internet users. The spam flows both ways, he says, and while Eastern Europe, Russia and China, in particular, may be prolific in their supply of unsolicited email, the US has a reputation for pumping out its share of spam.
"The view in the UK is that a lot of hard core spam originates in the US," he said. "UK ISPs have actually been fairly aggressive on spam. Other European countries are a bigger source of spam, but it's a pretty silly thing to block all email from Europe."
A better alternative, he said, would be more akin to child pornography blocking efforts by European providers BT in the UK and Telenor in Norway.
"They're very narrowly tailored," he said, explaining that those companies break blocking down beyond domains to specific Web pages within domains.
While only a larger ISP is capable of such filtering, it must also walk the fine line of not being under- or over-inclusive.
"The fact is, I don't think they're targeting spam," the UK source said. 'I think they're being honest about going after spam, but most of the messages they're blocking are not spam. To continue is narrow-minded."
