Spam Filter Information |
| Tela utilizes several filtering
systems to try and reduce spam email coming in to your account..
See below for information about spam. See also our User
Agreement for information about our outbound spam policies.
Standard email boxes include three anti-spam measures enabled by default: The first filter scans subject lines for certain common spam phrases and known virus patterns. This may cause some email to be rejected. It is not intended to eliminate all viruses. It can inadvertantly block legitimate messages such as with the subject "I love you" (also found in a virus) because it checks for certain key words and phrases only. The second filter rejects mail from certain addresses that have sent excessive spam in the past. This is a database that we maintain at Tela. Email postmaster@tela.com if you are having difficulty with an email destination. The third one rejects mail from certain addresses that are listed in anti-spam databases such as spamhaus.org These databases are maintained by third parties and are automatically updated if a server is repaired (to prevent spam or relays). These are called blacklisted servers. We use several of these blacklist databases to protect our customers against unsolicited and unwanted spam email. If you are a Tela customer and mail sent to your mailbox is rejected, it may be that the email server that someone uses to send email to you is listed in one or more databases of known or potential spam sources, or it has been identified as an open mail relay. This means that the sender's email server is "blacklisted". See "what you should do" below. Someone's mail server may be listed in these databases may be due to a misconfiguration of their mail server, or because spam has been identified from their server. This mail server may be operated by an ISP (Internet Service Provider) or by their organization. THIS DOES NECESSARILY NOT MEAN THAT THE MESSAGE WAS IDENTIFIED AS SPAM. It simply means that the email server that is used has a problem. Open Relays If the sending mail server is identified as an open mail relay, it means that anyone on the Internet can use the mail server to send their email, regardless whether they are authorized or not, and regardless of the content of their message. The server will be identified as the source of the spam and this will likely cause you to be listed on more spam source databases, as well as stealing Internet bandwidth to send their message. If you have recently corrected an open relay server situation, please check the links below to find out which open relay list you are still listed with and how to get removed from the open relay list. Spam Definition and Resources Spam is a serious problem and we view it as a theft of network resources. Legitimate email should be permitted and the elimination of real spam is one way to insure the fast and reliable delivery of legitimate email. See http://www.mail-abuse.org/standard.html for a definition of spam: An electronic message is "spam" IF: (1) the recipient's personal identity and context are irrelevant because the message is equally applicable to many other potential recipients; AND (2) the recipient has not verifiably granted deliberate, explicit, and still-revocable permission for it to be sent; AND (3) the transmission and reception of the message appears to the recipient to give a disproportionate benefit to the sender. We realize that use of these anti-spam databases is controversial because one person's spam is another person's commercial message. It is also controversial because legitimate email from servers that are listed in the anti-spam databases can also be rejected. We believe that use of these databases is warranted because it protects our customers from unwanted mail and theft of their network resources. We reject over 2000 pieces of such mail per day. Having your email server listed in such an anti-spam database is likely to negatively impact YOUR ability to send mail to/from many Internet servers. Your Email administrator or ISP should be able to help you with this matter. Note that some ISPs host other customers who send spam. This can cause an ISP's mail servers to become blacklisted, even though you do not send any spam. You should address this issue with your ISP if this is the case. What You Should Do If the email message mail is TO: a Tela mailbox or Tela customer, send a link to the page you are now viewing to your email administrator or ISP. Be sure to attach a copy of the ENTIRE rejection notice that you received. That notice contains the exact information regarding the rejection, including the reason that your email ws rejected. The notice also contains a link to any relevant blacklist information. The email administrator should be able to assist you in resolving the problem with your mail server. Tela customers please send email to postmaster@tela.com to opt-out of the email filters. Opting out of the blacklist filters means that your mailbox will not be screened for incoming spam messages from open relay servers. Opting out of the keyword and keyphrase filters means that your mailbox will not be screened for incoming spam messages. NOTE: opting out of the keyword/keyphase filters is done on a per-domain basis. That means that all mailboxes within your domain name (@yourdomain.com) will be either screened or not screened. You may email postmaster@tela.com if you have further questions about this issue. Be sure to attach the relevant rejection notice to any correspondence. |