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Reminder - Email and AOL

May we remind customers operating mail servers of the following
information:

Some ISPs operate email "blocklists" as a part of their "anti-spam"
measures. These blocklists prevent selected Internet sites from
sending email to that ISP's customers.

One such scheme uses a list of "end user" IP addresses on the basis that
such users will only be sending legitimate email via their own ISP's
"smarthost" email server. The idea is that the blocklist will be able to
block non-legitimate email because it arrives directly. In particular it
should block "spam" sent via insecure systems or virus/worm infections.

AOL have implemented just such a scheme as they have found, working
with many ISPs around the world, that it significantly impacts their
incoming spam volumes.

AOL have added ALL of the Demon customer IP address space to their
blocklist. This includes all dialup customers, all ADSL customers,
all leased line customers and all server hosting customers.

Please Note:

AOL's system does not affect the majority of Demon customers.
Customers who use Turnpike, Outlook, Outlook Express and
similar packages will be sending their email via the Demon
smarthosts (post.demon.co.uk) and such email is not affected
in any way.

However, AOL is able to accommodate Demon customers who operate their
own email systems, bypassing the Demon "smarthost", provided of course
that they are not sending any unsolicited commercial email!

The IP addresses of these systems are communicated to AOL as a
"whitelist" of permitted addresses, so that their postmaster team can
ensure continued direct access to the AOL mail systems.

If you have configured your email systems such that you send email
directly to the listed MX hosts for a destination you will find that
this fails when sending email to AOL. Your options will be to
reconfigure your email system so that email for AOL customers is
sent via the Demon smarthosts or, alternatively, you will need to ask
to be added to the AOL whitelist.

If you are being affected by the blocklist and you wish to be
added to the AOL whitelist, then send an email to
<whitelist@demon.net> with the following details:

*   Your Demon hostname (and/or domain name used)
*   The IP address from which you will be sending email.

Please don't send any other correspondence to this address
or include other questions with your email. Customers who have
already sent details to <whitelist@demon.net> and received
confirmation do not need to send them again.

We will collate this information and liaise with AOL.

We will also retain this information for use with any other ISP that
implements a similar scheme, and we may in future publish these
addresses for general use. However, we will not be disclosing them to
anyone other than AOL without making a further announcement first.

Malcolm Muir
Technical Relations Manager