After Downing Street e-mail Blocked by Comcast

Via this Friday, July 15, post from Shakespeare's Sister, I learned that Bright Mail, the filter controller Comcast uses, has been systematically blocking e-mails with the url www.afterdowningstreet.org from reaching their intended recipients.

After numerous phone and e-mail discussions with Comcast and Bright Mail representatives, David Swanson -- After Downing Street's co-founder -- was finally able to resolve the problem. Comcast's claim is that they contract with Bright Mail to block spam and other abusive e-mail. Purportedly, the filter control kicked in after Comcast began to receive large amounts of spam reports with ADS's url in the body of the e-mails.

Spam filters usually work by blocking IP or e-mail addresses, not website urls in the body of an e-mail. ADS still has not gotten a credible explanation from Comcast or Bright Mail as to why e-mail from a politically progressive Internet advocacy group which does not spam, got caught in a spam filter; but the bottom line good news is that as of now, ADS has been removed from the filter, and ADS members are receiving their e-mail again.

BradBlog has a detailed and thorough account of the entire chain of events.