Reference: Email-RBL

The emergence and development of Email is one of the key reasons the Internet has reached the level of acceptance it has. As a Mail Service provider, RidgeStar receives and is asked to process email messages from multiple "sources" by Internet Users that may be involved in the transmission of UBE (Unsolicited Bulk Email) or UCE (Unsolicited Commerical Email), sometimes described as SPAM.

We (RidgeStar) believe strongly in the value of the free exchange of information between two parties on the Internet, where both parties have an interest and a willingness to exchange information (whether it be commercial, personal, political, etc.). However, we do not believe it appropriate for Email recipients to be inundated with email they are unlikely to have an interest in AND did not directly solicit.

As a result, we have implemented multiple "controls" within our environment to introduce restrictions intended to limit the use of RidgeStar facilities (our mail servers, etc.) by individuals and organizations that are known to actively participate in the propagation of SPAM.

DNSBL (Realtime Blackhole Lists)

Our Mail Servers watch the mail that arrives at the RidgeStar systems to eliminate the potential for our facilities being used inappropriately. One of the ways we do this is a direct, active use of a mechanism known as DNS based Realtime Blackhole List (RBL), sometimes referenced as a "Reputation Block List". Our Mail Servers have been configured to utilize multiple RBL sources to detect SPAM originating from a particular Internet source and reject all incoming mail from that system until the offender is either stopped or brought into compliance with applicable laws and commonly accepted procedures. You can obtain an overview of the Message Volumes we process at Reference: Email-Throughput and, in particular, the number of Messages we reject each day.

RidgeStar (an operational division of North Ridge Software, Inc.) operates as a Washington State Corporation and, as a result, we believe that mail processing through our Mail Servers that are physically located in Washington State IS susceptible to applicable Washington State laws and guidelines.

Obviously, if you become a victim of the RBL, contact your RidgeStar Account Representative, but we hope this use of the RBL simply reduces the amount of SPAM/junk email that you receive via a RidgeStar Mail Server.

If you are not a current RidgeStar client AND your Email has been blocked by the RidgeStar RBL, please send Email to Abuse@RidgeStar.com, include a copy of the blocked Email message, the RidgeStar mail server response and we'll look into the matter to determine if your message and/or IP Address should or should not be rejected by our Mail Servers.