Nov 042004

Caught In Their Own Underwear

Caught In Their Own Underwear

This is, as Brad says, priceless. According to PC World, verification emails sent by the challenge/response anti-spam technology from Mailblocks, Inc., which is now owned by AOL, are being blocked by…you guessed it, AOL (and Earthlink, too). Read the full article here.

This is a little embarrassing for AOL, but it really underscores the continuing problem in the world of email, spam, and anti-spam systems: false positives. It’s almost impossible, with the moving targets of technology, consumer complaints, and aggressive spammers, to get filtering right 100% of the time. We all know the multi-faceted solution is out there somewhere (authentication, reputation, monitoring, improving permission and mailing practices, legislation and enforcement, etc.), but the industry hasn’t nailed it yet. Stay tuned!

Filed under: Email

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2 Comments on “Caught In Their Own Underwear”

  • Jordan Ayan November 4th, 2004 1:51 pm

    This is as you put it…absolutely priceless.

  • Email Marketing November 6th, 2004 12:54 am

    Go Block Yourself

    You have to check out my friend Matt Blumberg’s post on AOL blocking itself. It just underscores my comments of a couple of days ago in my comments You’ve Fallen And You Cant Get Up.

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