GMail being blocked by SpamCop

Scott Hughes — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 12:53:00 -0700

As much as I enjoy my gmail account, it’s starting to be rendered useless by Google’s refusal to include sender’s IP address in the message headers. I discovered this after an old student who I TA’ed at Georgia Tech tried to contact me using my primary pobox.com email address ([my first initial][my last name]@pobox.com). Luckily, she tried again using my gmail account and was successful in reaching me. I searched my pobox.com discard list and found her email, which was from her own gmail account. The headers added by pobox.com explain the reason:

X-Pobox-Antispam: dnsbl/bl.spamcop.net returned deny: 
  for 66.249.82.198(xproxy.gmail.com)
X-Sift-Reason: dnsbl/bl.spamcop.net returned deny: 
  for 66.249.82.198(xproxy.gmail.com)

Apparently, SpamCop’s list has changed in the past week (since this email was sent), because it appears SpamCop does not block xproxy.gmail.com anymore but does block qproxy.gmail.com. I don’t have an estimate on how many proxies gmail has and I didn’t check any others.

I found more information on the foo-projects blog, where they’ve heard back from SpamCop and SORBS about the blocking. Apparently, spammers are easily masking themselves behind gmails relays, so the spam police have no choice. The best solution is to complain to Google.

I use pobox.com’s standard settings for discarding junked emails, which (until now?) worked really well for me. It ends up blocking several hundred spam emails a day (this email address is 10 years old, from days when I posted it more promiscuously), and allowing about 10-15 false negatives through. I never have to check the discard list, because I have come to trust it to make zero false positives. That said, if you’ve emailed me recently from a gmail account and are unsure if I got it, I’d appreciate it if you re-sent it to me. I have temporarily set my spam settings to flag the message, instead of discarding it.

Hopefully Google and the Spam Po-Po can come to an agreement on this soon. But you should know that SpamCop is a highly regarded blocking list, so until this is resolved it is likely that I’m not the only one who isn’t receiving your gmails.

"GMail being blocked by SpamCop" by Vivek

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:52:51 -0700

I have been blocked of mail, by k9 web protection firewall, how to override the same.

Let me know through viv_sbp@indiatimes.com

Vivek

"GMail being blocked by SpamCop" by setaylor5@gmail.com

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:22:27 -0700

I am blocked out of my gmail. I am not sure why. I have been getting into my gmail. The problem just started. Please help me with my problem.

"GMail being blocked by SpamCop" by Luis Santos

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 06:53:05 -0800

Luis,

Excellent point… I could go back down that route, as this problem is still occurring months later. However, I tried not using SpamCop for a month or so and found that I missed it too much (it catches a lot of my spam!). The hassle of not having SpamCop is greater than the hassle of weekly checking pobox.com discards for “gmail”.

It’d be great if Google just fixed it…

"GMail being blocked by SpamCop" by Luis Santos

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 05:53:44 -0800

I was with the same problem. But I fixed it by configuring Pobox´s spam protection to not use the Spamcop service.

Global Reset: GMail being blocked by SpamCop

GMail being blocked by SpamCop

"GMail being blocked by SpamCop" by Vivek

"GMail being blocked by SpamCop" by setaylor5@gmail.com

"GMail being blocked by SpamCop" by Luis Santos

"GMail being blocked by SpamCop" by Luis Santos