Pardon me for venting a bit, but this has got to be the most frustrating 6 weeks I've gone through in quite a while... Around April 1, all of the local ISPs in my area went to using this new filtering service called iBlock by ISP Services. From what I understand, they are running their own kind of 'blacklisting' service in conjunction with other kinds of services. However, determining who is on their 'naughty' list is impossible. Nor do they offer any clear instructions on their 'redemption' process.

At issue is the fact I can't reach any of the users on these local ISPs who use their filtering system via our user group's e-mail account. No, the user group has never been accused of sending out spam. Rather, the reason appears to be the mention of anything 'naughty' within the message or even a file attached to a message. It will bounce. Even worse, they are bouncing messages that mention the domain of major software and book publishers.

Needless to say, this has grown into a very nasty situation. Members of my group are mad because I'm not sending them information they want. Vendors are mad because they blame me for blocking their messages. ISPs are mad because I'm directing EVERYONE back to them. Guess who's caught in the middle!

There's a lot of irony in this situation... By tradition, groups are a neutral meeting ground for business and consumer. A primary facet of our missions is education, with the basics of Internet security & safety being something we seem to touch on at EVERY meeting. So, why there is this sudden shift to advisories is beyond me. I certainly didn't cause it, and - as an unpaid volunteer for my group - I'm certainly not earning enough to listen to anyone's rants. (Nor will I take this quietly for too much longer!)

About the only ray of sunshine in this mix is that it has finally helped me move the group on obtaining paid hosting. I've spent the better part of this past week figuring out how to get PHPBB setup on my own website. At our meeting tonight, that will be the prime demonstration and I know it is going to be a big hit! Even better, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to export those forum postings so they can go to the new site once I have that established. (Where ever that will be!)

I also find some humor in this too. After all, I've been filtering my own mail now for at least 4 years using commercial products. I've never liked one-size-fits-all filtering schemes, and I've been saying that in the group for years. This is the first time many of them have seen just what kind of impact that approach can have on communications. I guess I should summarize that for you here... If you take too much control away from the user, you cross that line between filtering and censorship.

Thanks for listening everyone... Gotta run...