Spam Blocking Legitimate Email

While lawsuits are being filed against spammers, legitimate companies are also being punished and blacklisted. Businesses that send order confirmation details, requested newsletters, and other email correspondence are having their emails blocked. With no reason or announcement, email providers blacklist legitimate companies, disabling email communication with their customers.

Email providers and anti-spam software continue to augment their spam-blocking systems to prevent their users from being exposed to unwanted spam email. This spam-blocking process, designed to help, is also hurting consumers and businesses. Internet providers such as AOL, Verizon, and Earthlink have extensive spam filters and blacklist programs.

The bad guys, companies that engage in illegal spamming, sometimes get caught and fined, especially since the creation of the anti-spam law, CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act).

The good guys, legitimate companies, are following the guidelines of the CAN-SPAM Act but are still being blocked and blacklisted. When blacklisted, these companies spend thousands of hours trying to get whitelisted, often losing thousands of dollars in lost business. Since it is difficult to get feedback from email providers, some companies never get back on the email whitelist.

Legal professionals are investigating complaints from consumers and companies who believe that email spam filters do not differentiate between spam and legitimate email thus hindering business processes and consumer rights.

Spam Blocking in the News

In 2005, two class action lawsuits were filed against Verizon Communications on behalf of consumers. The lawsuit alleged that the company's policy of blocking overseas junk e-mail interfered with legitimate e-mail as well.

In 2004, the first CAN-SPAM lawsuit was filed against a group of spam abusers. Upon conviction, authorities confirmed that the spammers could face up to five years in prison under the anti-spam law.

Register your Spam Blocking Complaint

If you, as a consumer or as a business, have been affected by email spam blockers, you may qualify for damages or remedies that may be awarded in a possible class action lawsuit. Please fill in our form on the right to submit your complaint and we will have a lawyer review your complaint.

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