The Wisdom Fund wrongly accused of SPAM, suspends mailings

We've been accused of spam, blacklisted by Barracuda, and have suspended mailings to our list members. For all we know, accusations of spam may be coming from those who want to shut us down.

The Wisdom Fund is a registered nonprofit corporation (EIN # 54-1755689) established in 1995. Our email is non-commercial. The SPAM Act does not apply to our mail.

Nevertheless, we attempt to follow the Act. Our mailing list was developed over 15 years using a variety of methods. Lately, we moved to Direct Mail, all Subscribe and Unscubscribe requests are handled by http://ethreesoftware.com, and in the last few months we've been placing the Unsubscribe link prominently at the top of our mail — we used to place it at the bottom.

There's a guide to the FCC rules at http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business. The actual text of the Act is at http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0723041/canspam.pdf.

However, while the Act applies to senders, Internet Service Providers are apparently exempt from it, and they do not differentiate between commercial mail and non-commercial mail. They blacklist non-commercial mailers using the same rules they use for commercial mailers.

Anyone on our mailing list can complain they've received SPAM, and ISP's may blacklist any account based upon mere accusations — just three in one year may be enough. Apparently, there's no law that prevents ISPs from blacklisting anyone.

The sender is guilty unless proven innocent.

Proving yourself innocent can be a very lengthly process. Over the years, we've had to fight this battle with Yahoo and others http://twforg.blogspot.com/2010/06/net-neutrality-our-experience-with.html.

It's very time consuming, and unless one has an ISP battling with you, it may be a losing battle.

Our ISP since 1995, Heller Information Services, has been very accommodating, but there's a limit to the time and expense they will incur on our behalf.

One begins to wonder if the U.S. is any different from those authoritarian regimes we accuse of censorship.

Enver Masud

Founder and CEO
The Wisdom Fund
TWF.org

Report: The $16 trillion bailout

Senator Sanders: "As a result of these GAO reports, we learned that the Federal Reserve provided a jaw-dropping $16 trillion in total financial assistance to every major financial institution in the country as well as a number of corporations, wealthy individuals and central banks throughout the world."