AOL Time Warner's Road Runner cable-modem service has implemented a new policy to block suspected spammers and purveyors of malicious e-mail code. But the campaign has run over some innocent victims along the way.
Road Runner's new policy calls for the blocking of any incoming e-mails that contain contradictory domain-name routing information. That means Road Runner will block e-mails originating from people who have their own e-mail servers on top of an outside Internet service such as those offered by Verizon Communications, SBC Communications or Comcast.
The move is an attempt to thwart one technique used by spammers, who piggyback their own mail servers on top of a commercial broadband service such as Comcast or Verizon to more efficiently send out e-mail in bulk. The problem is that many legitimate small businesses also run their own mail servers on broadband connections, and are sometimes caught in the cross fire. [Privacy Digest]