E360 vs Spamhaus news

Well worth visiting: http://www.spamsuite.com/node/72. (Spamsuite is a site which tracks legal documents in significant spam-related lawsuits.)

The documents in question deal with a request by E360 that Spamhaus show cause as to why they've listed more E360 IP addresses in defiance of a court order. Of particular interest is the allegation that Time Warner has terminated E360 for spamming, apparently due to the Spamhaus listing.

Spamhaus has responded that the listing in question was in response to spam sent from "Rocky Mountain Internet Services" which is anonymously registered in Florida, and that there was no identifying information tying it to E360. Additional spam came from "XO Communications", also registered anonymously in Florida. E360 asked Spamhaus to remove the listings, and Spamhaus asked E360 for evidence of ownership.

E360 has steadfastly refused to provide any proof of ownership of the affected domains, and also refuses to provide a list of domains to Spamhaus. Spamhaus says that the domains in question do not belong to E360, but rather to E360's business partners and are thus not subject to the injunction.

For these reasons, Spamhaus is asking the court for permission to conduct discovery to determine exactly what companies, domains, and IP ranges are owned or controlled by E360.

E360 in turn responded that it doesn't need to provide a list of IP ranges to Spamhaus and it doesn't need to provide any proof that it owns ranges it wants removed from the Spamhaus SBL. As exhibits, E360 provides documentation that Dave Linhardt is the owner of Rocky Mountain Internet Services and Bay City Hosting.


Essentially, E360 is arguing that Spamhaus should be required to de-list any domain which E360 tells them to de-list. The spamhaus affidavit points out that this could provide a windfall for any spam domain for whom E360 is willing to do a favor. For this reason, Spamhaus argues, they should not be required to de-list domains without adequate proof that they fall under the court injunction.

Now, one interesting fallout from this round of legal bickering is that E360 will be forced to provide proof that they own Rocky Mountain Internet Services and XO Communications. If they do this, then all spam ever seen from those domains could reasonably be folded into the case as proof that E360 are the spammers that Spamhaus has accused them of being.