Yes, you can lookup contact information for IP blocks. However, we all
know how up-to-date that is, and the person listed there may or may not
be involved with the mail server.
The spammers seem to think its OK. Seems like anti-spammers could give it
a try.
If there had been a notice here, would you have been as unhappy? Remember
this was a free service. If I decided I could no longer make chess endgame
databases available for free, I would not feel inclined to look up everyone
who had been using them and notify them.
At first cut, I could not agree more. But at second and third thought when
I realized that just yanking the thing would have, you might say, unanticipated
consequences, I would try to find a way of (think of imploding a building)
firing the trigger without having it fall in on me.
As I recall, the first modifications to use RBL in sendmail were done
elsewhere, eventually a link was included on the sendmail site, and then
it was part of the configuration.
We are sort of minimalist when it comes to modifying mainstream code, so
I betting we got it of the box and plugged it. But that would have been
on my watch, and I don't remember for sure.
I can see you are bitter about the impact on your mailservers. I am not
happy about the way it was done as well, but assuming it was malacious
seems excessive.
I don't think bitter is right--and I did in fact get wind of this in the
anti-spam community several weeks ago so we had actually pulled the code
out last week, I think.
I'm just really tired of the cult-of-personality stuff. Lots of us are
just trying to keep our tiny corner of the world running for reasons
that do not glorify bits and bit-fiddlers against a growing tide of
bad guys. Having trouble telling who is on your side and who isn't does
not enhance the experience.
And if I can figure out what IP addresses to block, I will try to ensure
that we are not now part of their problem--self imposed it might be.