Why Outlook Address Blocking and Spam Filtering in General is not at all simple to explain, or get to work correctly
Warning: This is another of those topics that goes beyond strictly Outlook, simply because the issue(s) I'm about to discuss, while they interact closely with Outlook, are not necessarily influenced by Outlook or are under its control. And the way that Outlook interacts with the email servers is not precisely the same as how other email clients do. Everyone "does their own thing" to one extent or another.
For some years it seemed that. overall, the battle against spam was being won. And for some email service providers, Gmail and M365 being two examples, their spam filtering built on artificial intelligence is really, really, really good. You almost never have a spam message make it to your inbox or have a "real email" sent to spam for either of those services if you just let them both do their things and only do the very occasional "mark/unmark" as spam for a rare misdirected message. Sadly, they're the exceptions rather than the rule.
When you add in the fact that certain email service providers "take feedback" behind the scenes when you mark a message as spam or unmark a message incorrectly classified as spam, and use that to refine their filters, when you do that in your email client while others don't that's yet another layer of complication.
One member here recently mentioned that he's been trying to use Outlook's "block sender" function in an attempt to cut down on some traffic. This report triggered me to post about this on Technibble, a forum explicitly for those of us in the tech support business. I am getting more and more frustrated at how the "battle against spam" seems to be going in the opposite direction as it had been for some years. Some here might be interested in the topic and some of the revelations in it: Mark as Spam - Which email client(s) pass this information to which email service providers?
But, for those who don't want to read the topic, here are a couple of important takeaways (from the mouth of an Outlook and Microsoft 365 expert):
1. Outlook's mark as spam does nothing but train the local Outlook. If Outlook is attached to Exchange it will train that Exchange instance. None of this intelligence is used at the service provider level as far as I know.
2. Block sender functionality is actually dependent on Exchange too. So I'm not sure you can block sender without Exchange.
3. [In regard to spam filtering] That's because we've long since abandoned white lists and black lists and moved into active filtration. The system largely doesn't care what the user thinks, it's all keyword matching now.
My main point in posting here is to attempt to make it clear that the feedback loops between email clients and email service providers are both complex and inconsistent. When you add in the feedback loops between email service providers and email list providers (including, but not limited to, Groups.io) where if an email service provider's spam filtration marks a list/group message as spam you get unsubscribed (though ususally with a way to easily join again) things get even messier.
There are many layers and many players when it comes to spam filtering and exactly how it's going to work for you. It's very difficult to talk about this in any meaningfully specific way absent information about things like the email client in use, the email service provider, etc. It's not a simple, linear, step-by-step process.
Best VPN service / Canadian or US
If you're smart you'll avoid privateinternetaccess it's US based,
actually avoid any VPN service that is Canadian or US based. Buy VPN
service from Europe.
AIRVPN seems great.
https://airvpn.org/
VPN service reviews.
http://bestvpnforyou.com/best-vpn-for/torrents/
Obviously many people use a VPN for torrents to share copyrighted content, which is of course is something with widely varying philosophical and ethical points of view. However, even if you’re using torrents for unquestionably legitimate purposes, it’s a very good idea to use anonymity solutions like a VPN to avoid getting caught up in any misguided legal witch hunts or traffic throttling efforts of ISP’s.
Not all VPN services allow torrents though. Most have a mixed policy, where it’s allowed on some servers but not all due to the copyright litigation landscape in certain countries. It’s rarely allowed on US servers since it’s ground zero for copyright trolls.
Below are what we think are some of the best VPN services for torrents at this time based on speed and their policies:-
http://bestvpnforyou.com/best-vpn-for/torrents/
AIRVPN seems great.
https://airvpn.org/
VPN service reviews.
http://bestvpnforyou.com/best-vpn-for/torrents/
Obviously many people use a VPN for torrents to share copyrighted content, which is of course is something with widely varying philosophical and ethical points of view. However, even if you’re using torrents for unquestionably legitimate purposes, it’s a very good idea to use anonymity solutions like a VPN to avoid getting caught up in any misguided legal witch hunts or traffic throttling efforts of ISP’s.
Not all VPN services allow torrents though. Most have a mixed policy, where it’s allowed on some servers but not all due to the copyright litigation landscape in certain countries. It’s rarely allowed on US servers since it’s ground zero for copyright trolls.
Below are what we think are some of the best VPN services for torrents at this time based on speed and their policies:-
http://bestvpnforyou.com/best-vpn-for/torrents/
How stay anonymous online
(How stay anonymous online) VPN PROXY Torrents Newsgroups
TekSavvy recently sent out a communication to some of our customers on the request for personal information from Voltage Pictures LLC.
Since that time we have had many questions from customers concerned that they may have missed the communication. We have set up a notification system in the customer portal to let our customers know if they were on the list. Please visit the My World on the TekSavvy website to verify this information.
https://myworld.teksavvy.com/Account...?ReturnUrl=%2f
If your IP address is on the list, please email support@teksavvy.com for a copy of your email, with full details. To see the communication that was sent visit: http://www.teksavvy.com/important-re...er-information
The following link leads to updated documentation called the "Motion Record" received December 11th, 2012. The Motion Record contains the evidence and argument that Voltage will be relying on for its motion scheduled to be heard as early as 9:30 AM on Monday, December 17, 2012 at Federal Court of Canada, 180 Queen Street West in Toronto. In the interests of our customers' privacy, we have removed the list of IP addresses and associated information included in the Motion Record from the copy referenced below. We will provide this additional information to those affected directly on request.
http://www.teksavvy.com/Media/Defaul...n%20Record.pdf
At TekSavvy, we take pride in our dedication to our customers. We listen to our customers and try to respect their needs. We have always fought for our customers' rights and we take their privacy seriously.
We believe that you have a right to:
1) Have your privacy safeguarded;
2) Be notified that a request for your personal information has been made by a third party; and
3) Have an opportunity to defend yourself when a claim is made against you.
At the same time, rights holders are entitled to enforce their rights under the Copyright Act. TekSavvy therefore encourages everyone to become familiar with their rights and obligations under copyright law. For more information please visit:
http://www.teksavvy.com/en/why-teksa...-law-in-canada
You should know that TekSavvy does not monitor our customers' use of the Internet and has no involvement in collecting the IPs presented in this request by Voltage. We are also not in a position to speculate on the validity of the claims, nor contest the request for information.
For a complete set of information on the documents filed with the court in the proceeding brought by Voltage that we have received please go to:
http://www.teksavvy.com/en/why-teksa...er-information
Also please visit: The Government of Canada's Balanced Copyright
http://balancedcopyright.gc.ca/eic/s...153.html#amend
http://openmedia.ca/
SIGN THE PETITION EVERYONE http://internetlockdown.ca
Encryption E-mail, IM and more
Encryption E-mail, IM and more
I've been using PGP since it's conception and I must say, this is one software that can encrypt your hard drive as well as perform Military grade WIPE of your hard drive and leave absolutely no trace of any files that you had on your computer.
Read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy
The Home version of PGP can be purchased from Symantec here: https://www.symantec.com/desktop-home
If you were hit with the letter where your IP might be revealed to the copyright trolls you should still take precautions and do the following:
1. Get legal advice ASAP
2. Open your WiFi connection so that is publicly accessible by anyone, don't ask why, just do it.
3. Make sure you use PGP or any other application that can perform military grade WIPE of your hard drive, don't worry, it doesn't erase your family photos, it simply deletes any traces of any files that you have already "deleted" (8 passes is sufficient but you can do more, this process could take hours to days depending on the size of your hard drive)
I've been using PGP since it's conception and I must say, this is one software that can encrypt your hard drive as well as perform Military grade WIPE of your hard drive and leave absolutely no trace of any files that you had on your computer.
Read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy
The Home version of PGP can be purchased from Symantec here: https://www.symantec.com/desktop-home
If you were hit with the letter where your IP might be revealed to the copyright trolls you should still take precautions and do the following:
1. Get legal advice ASAP
2. Open your WiFi connection so that is publicly accessible by anyone, don't ask why, just do it.
3. Make sure you use PGP or any other application that can perform military grade WIPE of your hard drive, don't worry, it doesn't erase your family photos, it simply deletes any traces of any files that you have already "deleted" (8 passes is sufficient but you can do more, this process could take hours to days depending on the size of your hard drive)
Which VPN Providers Really Take Anonymity Seriously
Which VPN Providers Really Take Anonymity Seriously?
Here is a list of some good VPN providers. I personally recommend PIA
http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-pr...iously-111007/
Response to Q1: “We absolutely do not maintain any VPN logs of any kind. We utilize shared IP addresses rather than dynamic or static IPs, so it is not possible to match a user to an external IP. These are some of the many solutions we have implemented to enable the strongest levels of anonymity amongst VPN services. Further, we would like to encourage our users to use an anonymous e-mail and pay with Bitcoins to ensure even higher levels of anonymity should it be required. Our core verticals are privacy, quality of service, and prompt customer support.”
Response to Q2: “Our company currently operates out of the United States with gigabit gateways in the US, Canada, UK, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. We chose the US, since it is one of the only countries without a mandatory data retention law. We will not share any information with third parties without a valid court order. With that said, it is impossible to match a user to any activity on our system since we utilize shared IPs and maintain absolutely no logs.”
Usenet Indexing Sites RIP NzbMatrix
http://wiki.sabnzbd.org/nzb-sources
Usenet Servers
http://www.astraweb.com/ <== SSL is inlcuded
Check My Torrent IP
http://checkmytorrentip.com/ <== Use this site to check for any DNS leaks
Make sure you are using SOCKS5 with your uTorrent Application + Private Internet Access VPN
Here is a list of some good VPN providers. I personally recommend PIA
http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-pr...iously-111007/
Response to Q1: “We absolutely do not maintain any VPN logs of any kind. We utilize shared IP addresses rather than dynamic or static IPs, so it is not possible to match a user to an external IP. These are some of the many solutions we have implemented to enable the strongest levels of anonymity amongst VPN services. Further, we would like to encourage our users to use an anonymous e-mail and pay with Bitcoins to ensure even higher levels of anonymity should it be required. Our core verticals are privacy, quality of service, and prompt customer support.”
Response to Q2: “Our company currently operates out of the United States with gigabit gateways in the US, Canada, UK, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. We chose the US, since it is one of the only countries without a mandatory data retention law. We will not share any information with third parties without a valid court order. With that said, it is impossible to match a user to any activity on our system since we utilize shared IPs and maintain absolutely no logs.”
Usenet Indexing Sites RIP NzbMatrix
http://wiki.sabnzbd.org/nzb-sources
Usenet Servers
http://www.astraweb.com/ <== SSL is inlcuded
Check My Torrent IP
http://checkmytorrentip.com/ <== Use this site to check for any DNS leaks
Make sure you are using SOCKS5 with your uTorrent Application + Private Internet Access VPN
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