OT : aol blocking URLs with IPs rather than hostnames?

[Ken A <ka...@pacific.net>]

Anyone else seen this one?
http://postmaster.info.aol.com/errors/554hvuip.html
Seems rather harsh, but probably quite effective.

Ken A.
Pacific.Net

Re: OT : aol blocking URLs with IPs rather than hostnames?

[Vivek Khera <vi...@khera.org>]

On Oct 2, 2006, at 3:52 PM, Ken A wrote:

> The web page says that it's a policy, not an error. Perhaps the  
> rule misfired and they backed it out, but it looks like they have  
> every intention of blocking URLs in email that consist of IPs  
> rather than hostnames.

They most certainly do and have done for a long time.  The rule being  
backed out today was an update to the one enforcing this policy which  
was matching stuff other than what was intended.

Re: OT : aol blocking URLs with IPs rather than hostnames?

[Adam Lanier <ad...@krusty.madoff.com>]

On Mon, 2006-10-02 at 12:52 -0700, Ken A wrote:
> 
> The web page says that it's a policy, not an error. Perhaps the rule 
> misfired and they backed it out, but it looks like they have every 
> intention of blocking URLs in email that consist of IPs rather than 
> hostnames.

Perhaps we're speaking about different issues here.  The appropriateness
of the policy on AOL's website is not the issue I was responding to
although it may indeed be the issue you're bringing up.

On the SPAM-L mailing list, several incidents were reported today
regarding this policy:

http://postmaster.info.aol.com/errors/554hvuip.html

However, in the reported instances, the emails in question didn't
contain any URL's containing numeric IP addresses.  One, in fact, was
reported only to have an elipsis '...' in the body of the message.

Other purportedly offending body contents were:

"CNN Interactive email id:59531217083351400" in a plain text email!!

and this

"http://f.chtah.com/i/32/392907741/700px_spacer.gif"

AOL reported that there was a problem with the code that handles the
enforcement of this policy and it was temporarily removed while the code
was corrected.

As far as AOL's policy, I say more power to 'em.

Re: OT : aol blocking URLs with IPs rather than hostnames?

[Ken A <ka...@pacific.net>]

Adam Lanier wrote:
> On Mon, 2006-10-02 at 12:36 -0700, Ken A wrote:
>> Anyone else seen this one?
>> http://postmaster.info.aol.com/errors/554hvuip.html
>> Seems rather harsh, but probably quite effective.
> 
> As reported on the SPAM-L mailing list, this was an error on AOL's part.
> According to AOL, they've removed the rule until it can be corrected.  
> 
> Quoted by "S. Ramasubramanian"
> 
> AOL said, "We found a problem with the way URL's were being identified and have
> undergone steps to correct it.  In the interim, the rule change has been
> backed out pending further testing.  Thanks to all on the list."
>         

The web page says that it's a policy, not an error. Perhaps the rule 
misfired and they backed it out, but it looks like they have every 
intention of blocking URLs in email that consist of IPs rather than 
hostnames.

Ken A.
Pacific.Net

Re: OT : aol blocking URLs with IPs rather than hostnames?

[Adam Lanier <ad...@krusty.madoff.com>]

On Mon, 2006-10-02 at 12:36 -0700, Ken A wrote:
> Anyone else seen this one?
> http://postmaster.info.aol.com/errors/554hvuip.html
> Seems rather harsh, but probably quite effective.

As reported on the SPAM-L mailing list, this was an error on AOL's part.
According to AOL, they've removed the rule until it can be corrected.  

Quoted by "S. Ramasubramanian"

AOL said, "We found a problem with the way URL's were being identified and have
undergone steps to correct it.  In the interim, the rule change has been
backed out pending further testing.  Thanks to all on the list."