Web firm loses bid to restrain anti-spam group

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by Jennifer DiSabatino

(IDG) -- A U.S. District Court judge in Boston Wednesday turned down a Web hosting company's request for a temporary restraining order that would have required IP addresses held by the firm to be removed from a blacklist maintained by an antispam organization.

Redwood City, Calif.-based Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC (MAPS) said the judge's ruling allows it to leave more than 1,500 IP addresses registered to Media3 Technologies LLC in Pembroke, Mass., on the Realtime Blackhole List that many Internet service providers and corporate messaging administrators use as a guide for blocking incoming e-mail messages.

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Anne Mitchell, director of public and legal affairs at MAPS, said in a statement that the rejection of the restraining order request was "a highly satisfactory decision [that] maintains the status quo." However, she added that the legal battle between MAPS and Media3 isn't over.

Media3 filed suit against MAPS in the Boston court last month in an effort to get its IP addresses removed from the blacklist, and the antispam group has been at least temporarily prohibited from adding more Media3-controlled addresses to the list. A Media3 spokesman didn't return several calls seeking comment on the case.

According to MAPS, the dispute arose after Media3 refused to require its Web-hosting customers to stop using unsolicited commercial e-mail messages as an advertising tool. MAPS began including Media3's IP addresses on its blacklist last June and reached the current level of 1,500 addresses during November.

Internet service providers such as America OnLine Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN unit often use the MAPS blacklist to identify and block spammers that send unsolicited bulk e-mail messages to thousands or even millions of recipients at the same time. Spam opponents say the bulk mailings can clog up networks and render individual e-mail accounts unusable.

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Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC
Media3 Technologies, LLC

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