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Verizon SPAM Filtering my Outgoing email - This is unbelievable!

I pay verizon to provide access to internet access and an email address. I do not want nor did I ask for any spam filtering to be performed. HOW DARE YOU!!!!! If you spam filter my incoming .. .where are MY controls ... NOT yours!

Where do I see a listing of those emails that were filtered? You are obviously filtering my outgoing? What give you the right to do so?

I'm a sending 100's or thousands of emails a day ... NO!!!!

I sent 2 emails all day and you choose to filter them while I'm growing more and more **bleep** at the person I sent it to for not responding.

This can't be legal ... it is censorship .... I have been a loyal Verizon user since FIOS became available. I have internet, home phones, cells and TV service totaling over $400/month.

I am not going to looking into switching to AT&T and Cablevision.

I don't care if my contract is up or not ... go ahead and sue me .... I'll see you in court.

HOW DARE YOU!!!!!!!!!

Robot Mad

Comments

somegirl

If Verizon's outbound spam filter catches your outgoing message, you receive an immediate notification. You get an error message if you are using webmail or a bounceback if you are using a mail client. There is no mystery as to whether it was stopped or not.

You can find more information about how and why Verizon implements their outbound spam filtering at their Spam FAQ page, which is listed in the error you get if your message is actually blocked: http://www.verizon.net/spamfaq

If it is inbound spam filtering you are concerned with, you have the ability to turn it off on the My Account Tools page, or you can change it to save to the Spam Detector folder instead of deleting via the Mail settings section in your mailbox.

Also, this is a peer-to-peer forum. If you want to threaten/complain to Verizon, you need to do so directly. There are options on Verizon's Contact Us page.

DataArt

I use Entourage on a MAC ... there was an unnoticed tiny yellow indicator on the bottom of the page ... no bounce back or anything else that couldnt be missed ... when scrolling down to look at my Junk mail ... I noticed a message sitting in my outbox. I had to open the error log by clicking

The bigger question is why is Verizon filtering outgoing mail. That is censorship. I should not have to explain my email usage to anyone. SPAM email is sent by the thousands. If I was sending massive amounts of emails I would expect an issue. Not from my one email that was being sent.

This is BIG BROTHER being ridiculous.

somegirl

As stated in the Spam FAQ page:

Why does Verizon scan E-mail messages I send?
Verizon Online has a zero-tolerance policy for spamming from the Verizon.net domain and is working to reduce unsolicited email messages and improve the overal customer e-mail experience.
Scanning is the process of comparing an email message to a known spam signature using a combination of proprietary anti-spam techniques and spam complaints sent from users across the Internet. Verizon will not read your email; we only compare the digital signature (not the email content) of a sent email against the digital signatures of known spam. Emails that match a spam signature will not be delivered.
Scanning outbound email is an accepted industry practice and is an effective method for reducing overall spam on the Internet and for our customers. It also benefits you by reducing the likelihood that an email message you send will be blocked by the receiving service provider.

So there's Verizon's reasoning for the outbound spam filtering. They do have a right and a responsibility to protect their domain's reputation. (Though their methods leave something to be desired.)

DataArt

That entire explanation is hog wash. It's just an excuse for Big Brother to d othings it shouldn't be doing.

I say ... a YES to ensuring that someone can't send an email to hundreds or thousands of users or othe rbulk email.

But you can't explain how someone sending an email from a FIOS IP address which is an account that shows my name as the "client" that matches the same clients email address can be spam.

That would mean that someone using my PC (my mac address) on my FIOS router (my ip address) located inside my house (physically secure) wireless set to not broadcast an SSID, encypted and password protected) logged onto my Verizion email account with my password and sent a single email to a single user and have it be flagged as spam.

It it absolutey CRAZY that, that can happen.

They can detect IP address spoofing... Why aren't their systems checking that a valid IP address with a valid user signed on, sent a properly formatted message ... What gives???

I sent that email to their 3rd party ... Do you know what there answer was??? Well neither do I ... I've never heard from them.

It's just a load of crap ... I get so much {word filter avoidance} inbound spam filling up my junk email bin ... Why isn't Vz focused on that.

I've been doing IT for over 25 years ...

POLICY BE {word filter avoidance}... It is just plain {word filter avoidance} ... I love the fact that they wrote a policy and you can't discuss with a human... ... just send an email to a 3rd party and wait your whole life for a reply .... SHAME on VZ ....

It's too darned bad ... I love their cell service and their TV service ... they even have a fast, reliable internet service.

In fact this is my only complaint with their service ... But this is a biggy they have WRONG and they should fix it.

tadfurtado

Dear Somegirl, I appreciate your tying to put a good spin on this and I would have more sympathy for that position if I wasn't now forced to use the Verizon outbound server.

I was just fine using my own server that I pay good money to rent through SMPTing on port 25, but as of today that option is no longer possible. Verizon is making me use their outbound server and now they are putting volume and content limits on me.

SMCREY

I AGREE 100% i am so outraged that they would stop my mail. This is my business and my income depends on it. TOTALLY UNBELIEVABLE. (and heck, there is generally only ONE recipient in my outgoing mail, so what in the world determines it's SPAM for crying out loud)

I am so mad and the only answer from what i hear from Verizon is to stop using them entirely.

lasagna

Hmmm ... blocking out yours and your recipient's email (and any private message content), can you maybe give us a sense of the exact "spam" error message -- actual message headers useful too -- you're getting back from Verizon's server? Curious as to if Verizon (or the remote end) is bouncing the message or if it's saying something which you're interpreting as a SPAM rejection based on "content" which is actually some more rudimentary that we can tweak a mail configuration setting to fix.

I have many clients who use Verizon's outbound mail servers and use their own domain names (as well as Verizon's domain name) to send messages and they've all been working just fine -- except for one Comcast "blip" and that turned out to be Comcast's fault and they quickly found the issue and corrected it.

It'll help if you can give us some more detail.

dkw197

I too have been having problems with my email returned as SPAM--3 times in two days. I called tech support and they said that they had instituted a new policy to locate and eliminate SPAM and I should use something else (like gmail, hotmail, etc.) if I thought it was too aggressive. The SPAM email in question contained the word "Sweepstakes" in the subject line and the email contained two lines, including a link. It was sent to one person. I know she likes to enter sweepstakes and it was a cute one for her kids. That was it. According to the Tech, "Sweepstakes" is one of many words that they view as constituting Spam. It is really ridiculous.

Here's my problem with Verizon's new policy. It is so aggressive that, according to the Tech I spoke to, it only takes one word, like "Sweepstakes" to set it off. The fact that it was only to one person and I have no history of sending Spam doesn't even enter into the equation. This is just the beginning and according to him, they have no intention of changing it. When you forward the offending email to the address provided in your Spam notice from Verizon, he says that they look at it and determine if it is Spam or not. If they determine it was not Spam they will allow it to go through. However, he said they were very backed up and it could take quite a long time and you won't get a reply from them letting you know thier determination. Really? What about if my email is timely? This is truly a mess. My hope is that they refine it so that it has more sensitivity in the scanning process, but the question is how to get Verizon to change it.

I think Verizon is trying to do the right thing, but has gone way overboard and is now risking losing customers if this doesn't get corrected pretty quickly. People want to get what they are paying for and generally resent getting personal emails returned by overzealous Spam detection. Anyone know the best way to get the message to them? I generally like Verizon and would hate to switch, but I'm going to be forced to consider that if I keep getting my email returned.

lasagna

I just tried what you said bounced as spam .... a very brief message with the subject of "Sweepstakes" and two short lines of text "Hey check this out ..." and a link to website. It went thru without any issues.

What verizon mail interface / experience are you using? My verizon account is set for the "Yahoo" experience (as opposed to the Verizon--used to MSN? or AOL versions).

Again it would help to see the exact message which came back (blotting out the email addresses but leaving the rest intact) in order to perhaps figure out what might be going on.

rozo2

I've just started having outgoing email issues with Verizon in the last few weeks. I am a Union Local officer, and I send email out every week to our membership in mass mailings. My emails are very important issues that my membership needs to know about, mostly alerts from my international affiliation. Now, everytime I try to send out an email to another union official, or a forward that involves union alert information (that Verizon already accepted through the filters when they sent the emails to me) it is rejected and they claim that it has been detected as spam. I can't afford to have these emails not getting through. I wish I had a clear answer to this!

tns2

People wh do mass mailings for legitimate reasons are often mistaken for spammers. You will have to ask them to whitelist you. IF you are not a "business" user you may also hit limits that are set on residential accounts.

lilhighway

The Verizon Online Anti-Spam Policy strictly prohibits the use of the Verizon network to send or facilitate spam. Verizon takes preventive measures to reduce the amount of unsolicited email our customers receive and discourage spammers from using our network for spam-related activities. One such measure involves scanning incoming and outgoing email messages. The FAQs below provide information about how and why Verizon uses this technique to reduce spam.

Why does Verizon scan Email messages?
Scanning effectively reduces the amount of inbound spam our customers receive and limits the number of unsolicited messages that may otherwise originate from the Verizon network.

Scanning of both outbound and inbound email is an accepted industry practice that helps reduce overall spam on the Internet and the likelihood that messages sent from the Verizon.net domain will be blocked by other Internet Service Providers.

How does scanning work?
Scanning is an automated filtering process that compares the digital signatures of inbound and outbound email messages against the digital signatures of known spam messages. When a match is found, our filters block the message from being delivered to the intended recipient(s). Other than an automated scan against the spam signatures, the scanning process does not involve reading or accessing the content of any inbound or outbound email messages.

Will Verizon notify me if an email I’ve sent is identified as spam?
Yes. If you send an email that matches the digital signature of a known spam message, Verizon will block the message from being delivered and send you the following notice:

"The message you attempted to send was determined to be spam. Please visit http://www.verizon.net/spamfaq for more information."

What should I do if I receive such a notice from Verizon?
If you believe we erred in identifying one of your outgoing emails as spam, you can send the original message to us at spamdetector.update@verizon.net. (Please be sure that the above email address is the sole recipient. Do not add other recipients in the "To", "CC" or "BCC" fields, or we will not receive your message. Do not alter the original message by adding or removing comments, text, or attachments.) Within an hour of receiving your report, we will reevaluate the digital signature and, if the message is believed to be legitimate, adjust our spam filters as appropriate. Please note that Verizon won’t notify you about the outcome of our review. Rather, you should try resending the message 30 – 60 minutes after submitting your report to Verizon.

Does Verizon restrict the number of emails I can send?
Yes. Please see Verizon’s Email Policy for information about limitations on sending email from Verizon.net accounts.

Can I opt out of email scanning?
No. Verizon scans the digital signatures of all inbound and outbound email messages to reduce the overall volume of spam on our network

What else can I do to protect my email account from spammers?
Always maintain your computer with the latest anti-virus software. Check your Verizon account periodically for any unauthorized sub-accounts, by logging into My Verizon, click on “Account”, then “Account Overview”. Scroll to the “Internet” section, and click on “Manage Sub-accounts”. If you don't recognize a sub-account that is listed, immediately delete it, and change your account and portal password and account secret question.

To change your account password and secret question, from the “Internet” section listed above, click “Change Internet Password".

To change your portal password and secret question, click the “Account Profile” button above your account number, and click “Edit” below both “Change Password” and “Change Secret Question”.

this is industry standard ohhh it's verizon's industry standard hahahahahaha,i guess verizon knows all it's customers contact list lol

lilhighway

How many years has verizon been trying to control inbound and outbound traffic?laughing the bottom line is the spammers are real smart.for example all a spammer has to do is change the domain and verizon has a new issue

what i don't get is in verizon web mail (worthless)how can a spammer end up in your inbox you right click choose reply to sender and you get the spam faq.poor verizon got a bullseye on there forehead laughing.

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