“The ongoing war between ORBS, Above.net and MAPS has come
to light thanks to Alan Cox’s widely read diary… Both ORBS
and MAPS offer a screening service that cuts out unwanted and
unsolicited mail. Above.net is an ISP with two interesting
characteristics: one, it is included on ORBS’ blacklist of
open-relays (which allows spammers to disguise themselves); two,
its head, Paul Vixie, runs both Above.net and MAPS.”
“Alan Cox’s entry for 17 July reads: “Under repeated alleged
attacks from Paul Vixie’s above.net, ORBS has shut down its
services – Paul Vixie who just happens to own MAPS which just
happens to have ORBS as a notional competitor were he to go
commercial, anyone taking bets he does? Due to the amount of spam I
get without ORBS filtering, I’m going to be implementing draconian
filtering. Basically if you aren’t someone who regularly mails me –
tough you’ll probably never get a reply now.”
“So what we seem to have here is an ISP, with a vested interest
in an anti-spam company planning to go commerical, having a go at
another, non-commercial anti-spam company.”