Microsoft retiring [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://spamkings.oreilly.com/archives/2005/06/microsoft_retir.html
Reporting spam is a thankless job. But the Internet's founders nonetheless
wanted to encourage the practice. So, in a protocol known as RFC 2142, they
dictated that domain holders must create a mailbox named [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The idea was to facilitate reports of spam or other network abuse, without
requiring Internet users to search for contact addresses or otherwise jump
through hoops.
In a rather shocking violation of Internet etiquette, Microsoft has decided
to stop accepting mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Messages to that address
currently generate the following auto-reply:
Thank you for contacting Microsoft. Your e-mail will be handled by a
Customer Service Representative within approximately 24 hours.Please note
that the e-mail address you have contacted, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" will be
retired on April 29, 2005. In the future, please visit
http://www.microsoft.com/contactus to contact Microsoft.
OK, so maybe Microsoft has devised a better, if non-standard way to report
spam coming from its networks. Wrong. The Contact Us page at Microsoft.com
contains no information on the subject of reporting abuse whatsoever.
Ironically, a section of Microsoft's site devoted to email fraud and
phishing still recommends that Internet users report suspicious messages to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Microsoft's move has landed it on a blacklist maintained at
RFC-Ignorant.org, a site that calls itself a "clearinghouse for sites who
think that the rules of the internet don't apply to them."
A detailed discussion of why "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" accounts are essential is
available here.
UPDATE: The aliases [EMAIL PROTECTED] and [EMAIL PROTECTED] are apparently not
scheduled for retirement.
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