MCI Hosting Spam Gang, Spamhaus Says

• By theWHIR.com , February 07, 2005

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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.

According to Spamhaus, deals known as

"pink contracts" are at the root of the problem. Drawn up between the

host and spammer, these agreements exempt the spammer from the service

provider's normal terms of service in exchange for a higher fee.

Spamhaus says it has repeatedly notified

MCI that it is hosting 187 "spam gangs" and has become known as the

leading home to spam in the world.

MCI did not comment on the revenue

estimates and defended itself, reportedly saying it did not have the

ability to censor content providers. The company says it has a clear

acceptable use policy and will cooperate fully with law enforcement

agencies.

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

of sending out spam. According to several reports, a variety of US

Internet service providers have been affected by the new technique,

which takes over a computer and uses it to send spam through that

particular machine's Internet service provider, making it more

difficult to trace and block the spam's source.

Last September, Savvis dropped 40 spammers off its network after Spamhaus informed the company it was providing service to known spammers.

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