February 7, 2005 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — According to a report published Friday by anti-spam organization Spamhaus (spamhaus.org), Web hosting and Internet service provider MCI (mci.com) is hosting illegal spam operations that generate approximately five million dollars in annual revenue for the company.
r
r
According to Spamhaus, deals known as
r
“pink contracts” are at the root of the problem. Drawn up between the
r
host and spammer, these agreements exempt the spammer from the service
r
provider’s normal terms of service in exchange for a higher fee.
r
Spamhaus says it has repeatedly notified
r
MCI that it is hosting 187 “spam gangs” and has become known as the
r
leading home to spam in the world.
r
MCI did not comment on the revenue
r
estimates and defended itself, reportedly saying it did not have the
r
ability to censor content providers. The company says it has a clear
r
acceptable use policy and will cooperate fully with law enforcement
r
agencies.
r
The news comes on the heels of another setback in the fight against spam. Recently, Spamhaus warned that spammers have developed new and more effective methods
r
of sending out spam. According to several reports, a variety of US
r
Internet service providers have been affected by the new technique,
r
which takes over a computer and uses it to send spam through that
r
particular machine’s Internet service provider, making it more
r
difficult to trace and block the spam’s source.
r
Last September, Savvis dropped 40 spammers off its network after Spamhaus informed the company it was providing service to known spammers.
r
r
