Comcast: The Bullies of the Internet
So, we all know that Comcast throttles traffic and is generally averse to fair use right? Well, now they have added a new form of bullying to their repertoire. Recently, they decided to block an entire /17 network range. Why? We have no idea. However, the /17 in questions happens to be assigned to the hosting company I work for. We have submitted multiple requests to have IPs removed from the blacklist as we have verified that they are not sending out spam. Comcast has refused every request. Now they are telling us we have to filter the outgoing email for our entire network or else they will not take the range off their blacklist.
That’s right… they are demanding that instead of them doing their job by only blocking actual spammers, we have to police all outgoing email for two full data centers. Nevermind the fact that the cost of the equipment necessary to take on a job of that size would likely put us out of business, but the suggestion that we should be responsible for filtering all our customers outgoing mail is just ludicrous! Do we like spam? No, in fact it’s strictly against our Terms of Service and we terminate the accounts of any spammers we find. That said though, why should our customers not receive the benefit of the doubt? Also, why does Comcast think they have the right to bully other companies into policing the Internet? I, for one, will be canceling all my Comcast services as soon as I possibly can. I strongly encourage everyone else to as well for clearly they have lost their collective marbles.