A US District Court in Denver has issued a temporary restraining order on behalf of online marketing gurus, 24/7, against the Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS).

24/7 Media went to the court after MAPS included its subsidiary, 24/7 Exactis, in the spammers blacklist the Real Time Blackhole List. The list is used by many ISPs to determine whether or not to block mail coming from a particular address.

24/7 said that it should not have been included in the list. Cindy Brown, the company's senior vice president said: "We don't believe any serious observer could contend that we are spammers."

In a statement released by 24/7, the company said that a MAPS worker had stated, in court, 24/7 Exactis was cited in less than twelve complaints in 2000. During this period, 24/7 says, its Exactis subsidiary sent out more that four billion emails.

The District Judge John Kane found that MAPS had been irresponsible in adding 24/7 Exactis to the RBL.

Legal Jargon Warning: He ordered MAPS and any others acting in concert with MAPS to remove 24/7 Media from the RBL, and to rescind any comments to ISPs that state or suggest that 24/7 Media sends spam.

Judge Kane also found that the inclusion of 24/7 on the RBL actually meant some people did not get emails they had requested. ®

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