I just found out that covad.net is deleting any email they deem to be spam, without me getting a chance to look at it. My other isp puts spam in an account where I can check it and then delete it myself. Can this be legal???? Isn't this like going through your mailbox and saying, this doesn't look like something you need or should have, and destroying it? Someone here must have a resource that I can go to to check the laws on this. Help please! Thanks, Marque

Contact them, their spam filter is prob wacked out. there isn't much you can do about it, ISP has the right to delete anything it deems a threat to it's bussiness, but, I'd still call them and see. Also depends on what your EULA for your isp is, you may have to read. sorry it's happening. I hope it gets resolved for you.

I just got off the phone with them, that's how I found out that they are deleting the emails that their filter shows as spam. I can't believe it is legal to tamper with email which is now an established method of communication. I don't mind spam filters if I am allowed to check that it is really spam that they are stating is spam. I have gotten spam through the system, which tells me their spam filters are not good enough to make the decision for me. Guess I will keep looking for the laws on this. The supervisor told me that he didn't think a large company like covad would make a mistake in the law, and I pointed out that Enron was also a large company. He then said he would check with his supervisor. I just wonder how many people would be as upset about this if they knew it was happening. Sorry to vent here but this is really scarey. What next, incoming calls checked to make sure they are fit to hear? Marque

Spam filters seem to be a double-edged sword. I get at least 50 to 100 pieces of junk a day, and wished I could filter them better, but then you end up filtering stuff that is legit. i know on my website, I require registration confirmations. probably 10 percent of those confirmation emails are bounced back because the person registering's isp deems them spam. So the person never even gets to see them, which is a headache, since I have to actually look at messages I normally would just delete in case it is someone wondering why they didn't get it. Not sure on the legality. I know way back, some people wanted to make it illegal to spam. But instead others decided to let the software do it. Unfortunatly, spammers work around the software, and as the software gets stricter, it starts eliminating legit messages. I wish they would just decide to go the legal route. Because now days, even opting out puts you on a list of people who "respond", and you get spammed more. sigh

I don't mind the filters that allow you to go check for yourself. What I'm upset about is that they delete it without giving me the chance to check it first. I pay them to use email. I think I should be able to look at what I'm paying them for. I am 49 years old. I don't want or need a software program deciding what is or is not good for me. I got in touch with tech tv and I am also researching now to see just how legal it is to violate someone's right to check their communications for what is or is not spam. I hate spam. But I hate the idea of my property being directed away from me and destroyed. Marque

Sorry if this was the wrong place to post this. Just that there are a lot of informed folks here and I was hoping somone might know where to point me to get more info. I went to google and all I get is info on how to stop spam, nothing on our right to decide for ourselves. Marque

I agree with you. Even if it isn't illegal, it should be. (The users I was talking about had their isp's block it before it even got to them. I know that alot of people on the net aren't too bright, but just because they can't figure out a spam blocker themselves doesn't mean that the isp's should take it upon themselves to decide to block what "they" think is spam for everyone.) It is a good question. I am curious to see what the legalities of this are.

I seem to be double posting everywhere tonight. sigh I guess I should try to sleep sometime. :D Excuse my delete.

Probably not illegal, since it's a private for of communication. There are very few laws that govern the internet except for Kiddie porn stuff. Most lawmakers are unsure of what direction to go in regulating the internet and ISP's, and have very little technical skill or knowlage themselves. When they do research, they ask big companies like Microsquish for information and policy suggestions, not the common person. Most often spam filters are set to the number of addresses listed on a simgle email. Most companies let you decide the number, or put them in a special folder for review (MSN uses "Bulk Mail"). If your ISP is taking your choice away, it's probably time to change prviders. If they take this choice away, they may be taking away others you don't know about (like automatically bouncing email from specific sites they find "offensive").

I love e-mail... again. Literally, I never get anything in my inbox I don't want. I don't want to sound like a shill and I'm not affiliated with the company in any way but as a user, but I love ChoiceMail by Digitportal. It's different than rules-based spam managers. From the get go ChoiceMail assumes that anybody in your address book is okay. That's called the 'whitelist'. Everbody else who sends you mail gets a little message in return asking them to click on a link and type in a registration number that's displayed onscreen. The message comes back to me and I can accept or reject it. Incoming mail that doesn't come from folks on the white list is kept in a database on your drive and you can review the senders, domains and subject lines in a window and accept/reject/ban anybody that you want. If you send somebody mail, they're automatically added to your whitelist. My spam mail gets deleted every three days - time frame is configurable. If somebody sends me mail who's not on the whitelist and I want to receive their mail, I can generally catch it right away and bypass the registration. There's alot more to the product so check out their site - digiportal.com if it interests you. It's not the solution for everybody, but it works for me. I generally used to see anywhere from 10 - 30 spam mails a day and now I see none. -Nancy.

Nancy I wouldn't mind if they gave me a choice. I am not the one with the program, they are, so they make the choice of what to delete before I see it. That's what I'm angry about. There are federal and state laws against spam, but I haven't found any that protect us from our isp. Unfortunately covad is the only dsl provider in my area. I will just be changing my email to another provider I am with, and letting EVERYONE know about this. If enough covad customers get wind of what is going on I think there will ba a change in policy. 8^) Marque

It's not illegal. In fact, many Email providers are touting Spam blocking and filtering as a feature to attract more customers. I've had problems in the past with legitimate EMails from vendors at this and other Poser sites not getting thru, and I took the time to look into it. EMail is not Federal mail. Email companies can apply any criteria they want to how they handle your incoming (and outgoing!) Emails, as long as it's described or inferred by the guidelines of the service you signed up for. You're (as customer) only recourse is to take your business elsewhere, (although I'd raise heck with them over it in whatever depth I had time for if it was me). It's been established many many times that the owners of Electronic communications systems such as Email providers have the right to filter, read, and even publish such communications as they deem fit, unless they have a signed contract prohibiting them from such with the end-user. People assume there's some sort of divine or federal protections associated with Email due to the superficial similarity to the Postal system, but it just ain't so. Wish it were, but it's just not (until laws catch up to technology, or the Federal governments starts providing a US (or other countries) Postal Email service to citizens). Something worthwhile to start lobbying for.....

Time to write to anyone who will listen in federal and state offices. Thanks for the info leather-guy. Marque

Hopefully they will listen better than the FCC - 750,000 messages, the vast majority of them opposed to their rule changes - but when big biz talks these days...

msn's hotmail rejects ANYTHING from an aol or compuserve account, including fully legitimate letters from friends and business colleagues. It is one sure way to wipe out your rivals. Carolly

Then, why would anybody use hotmail, in the first place? Just say NO! There are alternatives, use them. Then they would wipe out themselves, like, electronic Darwinism ;-) Willy

AOL gets over a billion bits of SPAM a day, consequently they now reject email from all DSL accounts, it's legal, (and in my opinion, justified) but then I'm a postmaster so I have a special affinity for the meat substitute/Python skit. No doubt when they have to employ somebody just to deal with the SPAM, then they start taking it seriously. later jb

They don't have to employ someone to deal with spam. My other isp sends it to a website where the customer can check it for themselves to make sure it's spam and not something important. We've already found mail there that was not spam and was important to my husband's business. I hate spam. But this is a violation of my right to decide for myself, and it's wrong. Marque

I'm on GMX (a German freemailer). They offer to put spam into a special folder (which you would not download normally). The first time each day when I download my mail from the in-box (via POP) I also get a report which tells the sender and the subject line of the latest spam suspects. I've configured the retention period for the spam-box for 30 days. So, if I suspect important mail has been rerouted I can check via the web interface. It's straight and simple - even I can understand how it works ;-) Willy