Are Progressive Listserves Arbitarily being Blocked by AT&T?
By Caroline Vernon
A few months back, PACG (Progressive Action for the Common Good) started experiencing problems with our members dropping off our email list. Oddly, as site administrator, I was not receiving any official bounceback notices informing me of any undelivered email with the occasional exception of a full mailbox now and again.
It wasn’t until the first of this year that I realized the extent of the problem and determined that most of our Mediacom and Yahoo users were being blocked from receiving our email. Last week I finally received a bounceback notice in my administrative inbox, with the names of almost 70 members which were”blocked for abuse”. As it turns out, many of these members had not been receiving our email for weeks and in some cases months, so I was very concerned as to why I only recently received the bounceback notice. This indicates that the data was blocked going out and coming in. I immediately contacted Mediacom and after much wrangling was told that the problem lies with AT&T as they manage the traffic for both carriers. A Mediacom representative actually told me we had been “blacklisted” but did not know why. I then contacted AT&T, following their recommended protocol and providing them with all pertinent information via email as no telephone number is available.
After 3 days, and no response from AT&T, I filed an official complaint with Congressman Braley’s Davenport office who in turn filed a complaint with the FCC. At that time, the FCC indicated they were receiving many similar complaints. The following day (yesterday) I received a response from AT&T which indicated that the block will be removed within 24 to 36 hours. A copy of their response is below.
I think it is important to mention that PACG has been advocating against telecom immunity within the FISA bill. We sent out many action alerts asking our members to contact their elected officials and even staged a funeral procession for the U.S. Constitution outside of Senator Grassley’s Davenport office. We were asking the Senator to vote against the bill that provided immunity, and to protect the Constitution. Channel 6 (KWQC) covered the event as did the Moline Dispatch. The related action alert that we sent out to our list was front and center on our website for many weeks.
As you may know, in January of this year, AT&T, Comcast, and others, announced that they would begin to take more aggressive steps to manage network traffic in order to minimize spam and safeguard against copyright infringement of video sharing, etc. Unfortunately, they seem to be inspecting for content other than what they have cited. PACG is an opt-in only email service. We do not send out spam or share video files although we may provide links to sites that do.
During the recent Hearing on Broadband Network Management, FCC Chairman, Kevin Martin stated,
“Obviously network operators can take reasonable steps to manage traffic, but they cannot arbitrarily block access.”
There is no justifiable reason to have blocked PACG for abuse as is sited in the communication below… nor is any explanation given as to why we were classified as such.
I have since received communications from other progressive organizations who have indicated that much of their email is also being blocked. Given AT&T's response below, it seems as though they are saying this may be an ongoing problem for many listserves, and they seem to be passing the buck right back to the carriers.
If any of your organizations are experiencing similar problems, I strongly recommend that you contact your Congressperson and/or Senators to file an official complaint with the FCC.
In order to track this issue more closely, I am creating a list of all organizations who are having similar problems with delivery of their email. I can be reached at carolina1961@gmail.com or 563-676-7580.
Response from AT&T:
Administrator/Customer:
Thank you for contacting the Postmaster/Abuse team at ATT.NET and BELLSOUTH.NET.
The mail-server IP address(es) associated with your request will be removed from the block-list within 24-36 hours from the receipt of this letter. ATT.NET and BELLSOUTH.NET, its affiliates, and network services customers do NOT intentionally block legitimate mail in the course of our anti-spam initiatives. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.
Network administrators at ATT.NET and BELLSOUTH.NET closely analyze the mail stream bound for our customers to identify sources that exhibit the characteristics of compromised network objects or are compromised by an offender of Acceptable Use Policies. While a certain level of this kind of mail is to be expected in today's internet traffic, when this occurs above generous thresholds set by ATT.NET and BELLSOUTH.NET system administrators, immediate and decisive action is taken to protect our network resources.
****CUSTOMERS**** If you submitted an IP address for removal through the administrator's webform, or requested removal by emailing abuse_rbl@abuse-att.net, the administrator of the sending mail service or hosting provider is unaware of the issue and the IP may be blocked again. It is imperative that the sending service or hosting provider be made aware of the issue. Please send this message, along with the error message to that administrator so action may be taken to resolve the issues that caused the block. If you forward mail from a hosting service to your ATT.NET and BELLSOUTH.NET mail account, read the note on forwarded mail below.
****ADMINSTRATORS**** Please thoroughly check your IP logs before requesting removal. If you have already been removed, please examine your logs for rogue traffic, AUP offenders, and compromised scripts or objects. You must determine that all traffic from the blocked IP is actually from your mail servers to ensure your network is not compromised. Administrators who fail to do this may experience subsequent and more resolute blocking.
Thank you for helping the ATT.NET and BELLSOUTH.NET network combat network abuse in all its forms.
Regards,
ATT.NET and BELLSOUTH.NET Postmaster/Abuse Team
****FORWARDED MAIL**** If you are forwarding mail from a vanity domain, hosting service, or any other mail account that receives a high volume of spam, you may be indirectly contributing to the blocking of that IP. Forwarded spam is still spam and should be filtered at the source to end the abuse of network resources at the earliest point. Users can do this by utilizing spam filtering tools provided by the hosting service or external Internet Service Provider before it is forwarded to your ATT.NET and BELLSOUTH.NET.
Statement of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on Broadband Network Management Hearing:
Whether it’s health care,
the cost of education, our environment or global trade, Corporate America is holding
us all hostage to the almighty dollar. Greed continues to trump need as corporations
make record profits while more and more Americans fall into poverty every year.
Congress allows industry to write policy, and legislators don’t even read the
bills they enact. The average person would lose their job for gross negligence.
The pharmaceutical/insurance lobbies make billions on the grief of others, systematically
denying people essential treatment or drugs in order to save a buck. Half of
our taxpayer money goes to the Pentagon who “loses” over a trillion dollars and
“it’s nothing but a thing” yet we
have to beg to fund health care for our children. Agri-Business dominates at the
expense of our environment and health as 85% of our food is now genetically
modified, our meat is ridden with hormones and antibiotics, and pesticides have
permeated the water table. Global trade agreements allow corporations to
exploit for profit with no safeguards in place for workers or the environment.
It is our moral imperative
to stand up and say no more! John Edwards seems to be the only candidate that
understands that we have to make an aggressive push to take our country back –
the key word being “take”. While it is important to be able to bring everyone
to the table, we can’t continue to allow Corporate America to eat all the food.
Which comes down to,
follow the money…
Edwards and Obama are my
two top picks but there are some important distinctions to be made here. I think
Obama is awesome and I will support him whole
heartedly if he gets the Democratic nod, but as an activist, and more
importantly as a mother and your sister, there is way too much at stake in this election, not
only for our country but for the planet. Corporate America
will never give up their stranglehold on America or the rest of the world so
we must TAKE IT from them! There is no negotiating a moral standard… and frankly, that’s
what this election is about.
There are two main issues
that concern me about Obama; the fact that he voted for the Peru Trade
agreement (more of the same of what ails us), and more egregiously, the fact that he is promoting nuclear energy. Coincidentally,
Obama has accepted a lot of money from Exelon Nuclear and only stopped taking
corporate monies this past year once he decided to run for President. I commend
him for that recent decision but I am horrified that he is promoting nuclear power.
The current energy bill before Congress may have 10 billion dollars allocated
toward renewable energy, and that rocks, but if you look at the whole pie, it’s
too little too late! 25 billion is allocated for guaranteed loans to build new
nuclear sites and billions more for coal fired plants. I mean, this is what I
am talking about people… Corporate America writing OUR policy! Do ya’ll
remember all the hoopla about storing the nuclear waste at YuccaMountain?
Do you want that in your backyard? Is it OK as long as it’s stored in someone
else’s backyard (out of sight, out of mind)? Do you really think our Earth Mother will be served by that? We need to save Her in order to save ourselves. Almost everything we do generates some
form of waste by-product. Instead of adding to it, especially nuclear waste, we need to use our
considerable ingenuity to invent our way out of this mess. It is our only true
hope. What we absolutely cannot afford
is more of the same… business as usual.
Corporate America has had the resources and the necessary information to create new technologies for decades. Rather than doing the right thing, and truly be leaders of innovation, much of their resources have been spent preventing said technologies from entering the marketplace because, God forbid, that could hurt their bottom line. If their shareholders weren't so blinded by their own greed, they would be able to recognize the incredible opportunity that is presenting itself NOW. Corporate America and our elected officials could simply CHOOSE to lead this necessary technological revolution, but it remains to be seen.... so it's up to us.
Drew Westen's The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation helps explain the neuro-cognitive mechanisms involved in rationalizing away inconvenient truths, something we all do regardless of political affiliation. From the Introduction:
The neural circuits charged with regulation of emotional states seemed to recruit beliefs that eliminated the distress and conflict partisans had experienced when they confronted unpleasant realities. And all this seemed to happen with little involvement of the neural circuits normally involved in reasoning.
The results show that when partisans face threatening information, not only are they likely to "reason" to emotionally biased conclusions, but we can trace their neural footprints when they do.
When confronted with potentially troubling political information, a network of neurons become active that produces distress. Whether this distress is conscious, or unconscious, or some combination of the two, we don't know.
The brain registers the conflict between data and desire and begins to search for ways to turn off the spigot of unpleasant emotion.
Nothing earth shattering there. But here's where it gets interesting (italics in the original):
But the political brain did something we didn't predict. Once partisans found a way to reason to false conclusions, not only did neural circuits involved in negative emotions shut off, but circuits involved in positive emotions turned on. The partisan brain didn't seem satisfied in just feeling better. It worked overtime to feel good, activating rewards circuits that give partisans a jolt of positive reinforcement for their biased reasoning. These reward circuits overlap significantly with those activated when drug addicts get their "fix", giving new meaning to the term political junkie.
Frantically I pulled over to
the side of the road, got out of the car and vomited. Less than an
hour ago I had been excitedly talking, laughing, cheering and learning
at the YearlyKos Convention. Walking to the parking garage at the
McCormick Place I felt happy and hopeful.
As I turned west out of the parking garage onto Cermack Road it
hit me. A pain in my stomach and chest, my breathing became quick and
shallow, tears started rolling down my cheeks. By the time I hit Canal
Street I was sobbing a deep guttural cry, like when my father had died.
I had no idea where the crying spell came from but it was getting
worse. Dry heaves...frantically I pulled over to the side of the road,
got out of the car and vomited. Leaning against a concrete divider I
slowly calmed downed, getting my breathing back to normal, only slow
tears.
Take the Bus to the US Social Forum June 27th Mark Your Calendars for the Progressive Event of the Year! By Caroline Vernon
PACG
is working on securing a bus (or two) to take a large Iowa contingent
to Atlanta, Georgia from June 27th thru July 1st to attend the USSocialForum
(USSF). Please mark your calendars and spread the word far and wide.
Details about the cost of the bus trip and available lodging will be
forthcoming... stay tuned...
Excerpt from the site:
The
USSocialForum is more than a conference, more than a networking bonanza, more
than a reaction to war and repression.
The
USSF will provide space to build relationships, learn from each other's experiences,
share our analysis of the problems our communities face, and bring renewed
insight and inspiration. It will help develop leadership and develop
consciousness, vision, and strategy needed to realize another world.
The
USSF sends a message to other people's movements around the world that there is
an active movement in the US
opposing US Policies at home and abroad.
We
must declare what we want our world to look like and begin planning the path to
get there. A global movement is rising. The USSF is our opportunity to
demonstrate to the world Another World is Possible!
Check out the following link to see some of the many workshops that will be available...
Senator Grassley, Protect Medicare Beneficiaries, NOT Drug Company Profits! By Caroline Vernon
On Thursday, May 10th, a coalition of concerned citizens representing various organizations came together to hold a press conference in front of Senator Charles Grassley’s downtown Davenport office. The purpose of this press conference was to urge the Senator to reconsider his vote on repealing the provision within the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act that forbids Medicare from negotiating prescription drug prices. Coalition groups included organizers and members of Iowa Citizens Action Network (ICAN), Working Families Win (WFW), Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), Quad Cities Federation of Labor (QC-Fed) and Progressive Action for the Common Good (PACG).
Unfortunately, the funeral of Katie Soenksen, the young soldier from Davenport (one of the most recent victims of the Iraq war), was held at the exact same time of our scheduled press conference so we had no press at the event, although Charlie Wishman of ICAN was interviewed on WVIK, a local radio station. Although disappointed at the lack of media coverage, we accomplished exactly what we set out to do; to let Senator Grassley know that his vote forbiding Medicare to negotiate drug prices is unacceptable.
I hope seniors everywhere are paying attention... our senior Senator seems to believe it is more important to protect drug company profits than to protect Iowa’s medically needy and senior citizens who depend on life-saving medication. The costs of some drugs are so outrageous that many are forced to either go without their medication or forego paying other bills. Meanwhile, drug companies are making huge profits at the expense of the elderly and infirmed.
Based on a recent report by the Institute for America’s Future (read the whole report at: www.ourfuture.org), ..."repealing the provision within the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act that expressly forbids Medicare from negotiating lower prescription drug prices could save American taxpayers $30 billion a year." This paper also examines the savings from the Veterans Administration to show that Iowa residents could save $399 million each and every year if Medicare was allowed to negotiate for the same low prices that are obtained by the VA.
The potential annual savings from negotiating are also evident from looking at several particular drugs. Merck’s Zocor and Pfizer’s Lipitor are both top-selling prescriptions that, if sold at the VA’s negotiated price would save U.S. taxpayers and seniors more then $2.8 billion annually, enough to fully fund the shortfall states face with the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). To give you a glaring example of the difference in cost, refer to the comparison below: VA Med D Med D (low) (high) Merck Zocor (20 mg) $127 $1,275 $1,776 Merck Zocor (40 mg) $191 $1,275 $1,711 Pfizer Lipitor (10 mg) $520 $749 $927 Pfizer Lipitor (20 mg) $782 $1,068 $1,302 This information was relayed to Senator Grassley’s aide. In addition, Jim and Doris Hughes, Davenport residents, shared their growing concerns over their drug costs which actually increased from just under $4,000 in 2005, when they had no drug coverage, to over $9,000 in 2006 under Medicare Part D.
This is so outrageous… we cannot continue to allow the well-being of our most vulnerable citizens to be held hostage to the almighty dollar. I don’t know how Senator Grassley or anyone else can rationalize and then justify this kind of exploitation. Senator Grassley has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry. It’s time he gets his priorities straight and chooses to represent the good people of this state instead of drug company profits. Please call Senator Grassley and tell him exactly that!
Senator Grassley's Washington DC Office: 1-202-224-3744
As many of you may know, PACG has put out many calls to action on VOICE - Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections. The passage of VOICE - SF 553 , in the state of Iowa would have a HUGE impact
on every issue across the spectrum - the passage of this bill
would give the people of Iowa an unprecedented opportunity to take back
control of our legislature from the special interest groups that have
too often dominated the outcome of policy. There are MANY reasons to
pass VOICE - passage of this bill would free-up our legislators
from the all consuming cycle of fundraising so they can spend more
time working on the actual issues that affect their
constituents, and citizens would have more faith in the system and
the legislators that represent them. Legislators would no longer be
beholden to the special interests that help get them elected. In other
states where similar bills were passed, they are seeing a big increase
in people running for office than ever before and in Arizona
voter turnout has increased by as much as 20%. The passage of
VOICE is a win-win for everyone involved... that's why WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW.
The VOICE
bill, SF 553, is in an Appropriations sub-committee comprised of
Rep. Dave Jacoby (D-chair), Rep. Jo Oldson (D) and Rep. Dwayne Alons
(R). It will come up for a vote in that committee
either Tuesday (3/27) or Wednesday (3/28). If passed, it
then goes to the full committee and becomes "funnel-proof." That
means the likelihood for debate on the floor of the House
increases. However, we learned on Friday that the Appropriations
sub-committee plans to "kill" the bill, at the request of
leadership.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
PLEASE make a push to call the committee members and the leadership on MONDAY,
urging them to support SF 553. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is a firm
supporter of the bill so please call him, thank him for his
support and urge him to continue pushing for passage of the bill.
MOST IMPORTANTLY - contact Senator Mike Gronstal in the Senate and Speaker Pat Murphy in the House - urging them to support passage of the bill. We need to make a VERY BIG PUSH in order to make a difference.
VOICE has overwhelming support from citizens and community leaders - we need to remind leadership that people matter more, money matters less.
PLEASE call the Appropriations Sub-Committee members and House & Senate Leaders on MONDAY! - These
are only 6 telephone calls that will take up very little of your time
-- the small effort required on our part can make a BIG difference for
the future of our state! Please refer to the Word document (see
attachment) that outlines the general information and primary
benefits of the bill, SF 553.
Rod Roberts (R)
Rod.Roberts@legis.state.ia.us
House Switchboard: (515) 281-3221.
Speaker of the HouseRep. Pat Murphy (D) House District 28 – Dubuque County Pat.Murphy@legis.state.ia.us Home Telephone: (563) 582-5922 House Telephone: (515) 281-5566
House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (D) House District 67 – Polk County Kevin.McCarthy@legis.state.ia.us Home Telephone: (515) 953-5221 House Telephone: (515) 281-7497 (PLEASE THANK HIM FOR HIS SUPPORT!)
Senate Majority Leader Senator Mike Gronstal (D) Senate District 50 -- Pottawattamie michael.gronstal@legis.state.ia.us Home Telephone: (712) 328-2808 Business Telephone: (515) 281-3901
Take action! Call,
your local legislator today! Find out where they stand on the
bill, urge them to support it and ask them to urge leadership and
committee members to do the same! It's not
enough to simply ask them if they support the bill --- if they do,
ask them what they are doing to ensure passage of this bill.
*IBLTV is a group of citizens from the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area who are concerned about the decline in the quality of local television. Fight local media consolidation, as it leads to an unaccountable medium that enriches itself while disregarding the need to serve the public good.
*The rational counter to 'The Point,' 'The Counterpoint' critiques and corrects the daily editorial by Sinclair Broadcasting's corporate vice president, Mark Hyman, that is broadcast on all Sinclair-owned television stations across the country
