Andy Johnson wrote:
Let me clarify, then.
If the offending ISP does not respond, and you have exhausted all avenues available to you to get the ISP to get its customer to stop spamming - whether by TOS'ing the customer, education or whatever -
... and you've waited a reasonable time ... Then the ISP is obviously either incompetent or deliberately aiding the spammers. Why should you even consider anything less than blacklisting every netblock the ISP has?
then escalation may work if the collateral damage caused by escalation is enough to get the spammers' neighbors to complain to the ISP.
The objective isn't just to stop that spammer. If the ISP is clearly acting irresponsibly and not dealing with a spam problem, getting them to wake up is more important than the individual spammer.
And I don't think this is a potential solution only for spam; it is appropriate (IMESHO) in other abusive situations too.
Doesn't anyone see the irony here? Fighting abuse with abuse is somewhat counter-productive. ...
Not if its the only way to wake up that ISP. Of course, this sort of block must be a last desparate measure. At a minimum, the spammer's been at it for weeks and you've mailed abuse@, postmaster@ and the whois contacts without eliciting a response from the ISP, before you even consider it. Even then, you should likely try phoning the ISP and/or browsing their website for other contact addresses before taking such a drastic action. But if drastic action seems the only way, don't stop at half measures. Blackhole every netblock they have, and for all packet types, not just email.