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Debunking Popular Myths About Spamhaus | |||||
![]() Category: Report Updated: 2022-05-14 Statement Ref: S013
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Spammers love to make up myths about Spamhaus. Ever since Spamhaus began tracking spammers in the late 1990's spammers have attempted to circulate myths and disinformation about Spamhaus or Spamhaus staff by posting "astounding revelations" and "shocking truths about Spamhaus" to anonymous public forums. Frequently, spammers masquerading as 'concerned internet users' post anonymous complaints on internet forums which invariably claim that Spamhaus or its directors and staff are: wanted criminals, fugitives on the run from 'the police', members of 'the Mafia', racketeers, blackmailers, extortionists, tax-evaders, tax fraudsters, money-launderers, international terrorists, members of Al Queda, members of the 'KKK', or all of the above. On occasions spammers and small cybercriminal hosts masquerading as 'freedom activists' have attempted to hijack public sympathy by claiming that Spamhaus is part of an evil global government conspiracy to "limit Internet Freedom" (they mean their freedom to spam and scam internet users). The following are some of the more common myths spammers love to circulate about Spamhaus, its directors and staff: Myth: "Spamhaus is a criminal and terrorist organisation"
In reality, if any Spamhaus staff had any type of criminal association or record whatsoever, let alone be "wanted" by any government, Spamhaus would not be a member of International Law Enforcement work groups such as UCENET: UCENET Member Organizations, nor would Spamhaus receive awards from Law Enforcement Agencies such as FBI NCFTA: http://www.spamhaus.org/organization/ncftaaward/. Likewise, were we to have any connection whatsoever to cybercrime or terrorism the FBI would not publicly declare a partnership with Spamhaus such as at: http://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/small-business-cyber-security
We occasionally hear of spammers bragging to other spammers to have paid Spamhaus for removal of their records, but no spammer has ever been able to show any evidence of doing so. The notion that Spamhaus can be bribed to remove records is a myth propagated in the bars of bulk mailing events after a few too many Red Bulls and vodka. The obvious response of any intelligent listener should be: "Do you have evidence of this? Send it to the press!". (Note: Any demand by anyone for any type of payment to remove any listing from any Spamhaus database is always a fraud or scam. Never pay anything to anyone who claims to be able to remove listings from a Spamhaus database for a fee.) Myth: "Spamhaus commits Blackmail and Extortion"
Spamhaus SBL Policy additionally allows the SBL to escalate a listing further in cases of serious chronic spammer infection or persistent cybercrime hosting. No different to a Restaurant denying access to a patron not respecting the Restaurant's "no shirt, no shoes, no service" dress code, this policy effectively says that Spamhaus does not recommend to Spamhaus SBL Users the acceptance of electronic communications from such listed IPs or CIDR ranges while the host continues to allow a spam operation to operate from them. This SBL policy makes it difficult for bad hosts who would otherwise carry on hosting serious spam operations, to continue doing so if they also want to communicate with networks who use the SBL. Because the net effect of this policy applies pressure on bad hosts to cease abuse, spammers and bad hosts claim this policy is "Blackmail" or "Extortion" in an attempt to misrepresent SBL Policy as being somehow "illegal". (Note: Both blackmail and extortion are criminal offences. Spamhaus strongly recommends that all criminal acts be reported to the Police.) Myth: "Spamhaus is a censorship organization"
Myth: "Spamhaus blacklisted Wikileaks"
Myth: "The Russian Government has declared that Spamhaus is an illegal organization"
Myth: "Spamhaus blocks whole ISPs because of one spam"
Myth: "Spamhaus claims to be a non-profit to evade taxes"
Myth: "Spamhaus claims to be a non-profit but they make lots of money"
The myth's logic for why a third-party commercial company such as SpamTEQ would want to pass its profits not to its shareholders but to a non-profit company which is neither a parent nor subsidiary, and which thus then becomes new taxable income for the non-profit company, completely escapes us. The Spamhaus Project is an international Non-governmental non-profit organisation whose task is purely mission-based and not profit-based. As such The Spamhaus Project has no shareholders, no customers, no sales staff, and no desire to be involved in commerce. Our focus is entirely on fighting spam. Almost two decades ago The Spamhaus Project chose in its Blueprint for the Future to leave all commercial endeavours (such as supplying commercial Datafeed Services) to independent 3rd party Strategic Partners such as SpamTEQ, to enable The Spamhaus Project to concentrate solely on fighting spam. Details of The Spamhaus Project's current Strategic Partnerships are published here. Myth: "Spamhaus gets information by hacking servers"
Myth: "Spamhaus wants to stop spam so that they can control the 'spam industry' for themselves"
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