SORBS (Spam and Open Relay Blocking System) is a controversial open proxy and open mail relay DNSBL. It has been augmented with complementary lists that include various other classes of hosts, allowing for customized email rejection by its users. An open proxy is a proxy server which is accessible by any Internet user. ... An open mail relay is an SMTP (email) server configured in such a way that it allows anyone on the Internet to relay (i. ... A DNS-based Blackhole List (DNSBL, Real-time Blackhole List or RBL), is a means by which an Internet site may publish a list of IP addresses, in a format which can be easily queried by computer programs on the Internet. ...

History

The SORBS DNSbl project was created November of 2002. It was maintained as a private list until January 6, 2003 when DNSbl was officially launched to the public. The list consisted of 78,000 proxy relays and has grown to over 3,000,000 compromised spam relays. (Source: SORBS.NET as of February 8, 2006)

Controversy

Some of the controversy arises from SORBS' policy of requiring a US$50 donation to the Joey McNicol Legal Defense Fund in order to get an IP de-listed from the spam database.[1] Because of this requirement, SORBS has often been compared to an extortion racket.[2] Joey McNicol is an activist against E-mail spam. ...

The Joey McNicol case was won as of October 20, 2002.[3][4]

Unused amounts in the fund are made available to defend other actions brought by spammers against people who fight spam.[5] Donations have been made to the Abusive Hosts Blocking List (FSS vs. AHBL)[6] and OsiruSoft Research & Engineering (Pallorium vs. Jared).[7]

SORBS has also been criticized [8] due to their blacklisting of free email services such as Gmail, Yahoo!, and Hotmail. This is a consequence of SORBS' spam database listing policy: any IP address that sends spam to the SORBS spamtrap addresses gets listed. Because spammers use viruses, malware and rootkit techniques to make unknowing users' computers send spam, the SORBS database will list unknowing users' mail servers. Wide networks of computers sharing the same IP address using network address translation may also suffer, because if one mail server on the network gets infected by a virus, the whole NAT'd network (even thousands of computers, though usually limited to a small office or home) will be blacklisted. For these reasons, critics say SORBS and other lists should be used cautiously if at all and only included in a wider and more flexible antispam policy. Gmail, officially Google Mail in the United Kingdom and Germany, is a free webmail and POP3 e-mail service provided by Google. ... Yahoo! - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Hotmail is a free webmail e-mail service, which is accessible via a web browser. ... A spamtrap is a honeypot used to collect spam. ... Stop editing pages god ... Malware is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system, without the owners informed consent. ... A rootkit is a set of software tools intended to conceal running processes, files or system data, thereby helping an intruder to maintain access to a system whilst avoiding detection. ... View of a modern spam email, containing an advertising image. ... In computer networking, the process of network address translation (NAT, also known as network masquerading or IP-masquerading) involves re-writing the source and/or destination addresses of IP packets as they pass through a router or firewall. ...

DUHL

SORBS also adds IP ranges that belong to dialup modem pools, dynamically allocated wireless and DSL connections as well as DHCP LAN ranges by using Reverse DNS PTR records, WHOIS records, and sometimes by submission from the ISPs themselves. This is called the 'DUHL' or Dynamic User and Host List.[9] Reverse DNS lookup is a process to determine the hostname associated with a given IP address. ... WHOIS is a TCP-based query/response protocol which is widely used for querying a database in order to determine the owner of a domain name, an IP address, or an autonomous system number on the Internet. ...

Matthew Sullivan of SORBS proposed that reverse DNS names include the terms static or dynamic in order to automatically classify IP addresses.[10] However, the DHUL also blocks IPs whose name includes the term static. Furthermore, some DUHL's net blocks, e.g. 87.23.0.0-87.23.63.255, don't match a Subnetwork as reported by the relevant LIR. Finally, spam evidence is not provided for DUHL entries. The word subnetwork (usually shortened to subnet) has two related meanings. ... In Celtic mythology, Lir (the sea) was the god of the sea, father of Manannan mac Lir, Bran, Branwen and Manawydan by Penarddun and a son of Danu and Beli. ...

External links

• Spam and Open Relay Blocking System
• Example of blocking practices.