problem with spamhaus.org

[veryunderstated]

I was wondering if we could turn off the stupid filter list from spamhaus.org as it's not meant to be used for things like gaming servers. It's an email spammer list and isn't appropriate for a MineCraft server. I've been having problems with it for the last two days as I'm staying in a hotel for the next few weeks and have to use public Wi-Fi. I can't get my IP changed. I don't even understand why this filter list is being used since MCBans is good enough I thought.

[DesignTrice]

You can get your IP off the list.

[Ryuuga]

I'm not completely clear on the details but multiple users had problems with this site. It seems that you can unblock yourself on the site though. I'm currently unaware whether or not we're purposely using this filter as a means against spam bots or not.

[Jackster21]

Nobody has provided me with any actual information about this as of yet.

Is this when you connect to the server?
Can you give me a screenshot of what it says/does when you try to join?

I think i may know the cause, just need this information so I can look into it.

[Ryuuga]

have heard of 3 occurances of this as of yet jack don't have any SS of it though but it happens when they try to connect to the server. I believe sparkleunidog was one of them who had trouble with it.

[SparkleUnidog]

No, I haven't had trouble with it. I believe it was chuchu that had the trouble :3

[lordgandalf]

Hmmz searched on the netz about this.
It seems some ip`s are blocked by spamhaus.
Im unsure if its a minecraftside,bukkitside or providerside thingy.

But a fix is to get youre ip at whatsmyip.org copy youre ip its 4 numbers seperated with dots.
then goto http://www.spamhaus.org/lookup/ and paste youre ip in the first box and hit the lookup button.
click on the PBL link to get youre ip unblocked then click on the button saying Remove ip from spamhaus pbl
check the box on the end of the page to get unblock.
but only do this if youre sure the reason they blocked you for isnt valid
then you should get unblocked from the list and you should be able to get on in the near future

EDIT: seems minecraft is checking youre ip if it is on a blocklistmore info: http://www.emmz.com/threads/ip-banned-my-ip-adress-has-been-flagged-as-unsafe-by-spamhaus-org-xbl.1490/

[Jackster21]

Yup, done a few searches myself and it seems like its a new Minecraft feature to try and combat spammers who keep attacking servers

If you follow the steps provided by Gandalf above, you should get yourself back online as soon as you can!

[veryunderstated]

the problem is that the IPs keep getting put back on because one of the other people staying in this hotel has a spambot virus or malware on their computer. I unblock an IP and just a few hours it's back on.

[DesignTrice]

That´s the major problem of spamhaus.org!

[veryunderstated]

from what I've read it's nearly impossible to get unlisted for good from spamhaus.org. they have a habit of relisting things over and over again and then after you'd unlisted yourself like 20 times they will permanently list you and you can't be unlisted ever again. which means these next 2-3 weeks of me visiting family in Atlanta are going to suck ass since I will after a week or so probably not be able to unlist the IPs anymore.

the thing that bothers me the most is that spamhaus is for email spammers, it isn't exactly compatible with MineCraft so I don't see why it's being used at all.

[veryunderstated]

well, I was wrong about how long it would take. I am now no longer allowed to delist my IP.

is there any way to disable this? or maybe to allow my IP?

[DesignTrice]

Not sure if this is advertising but try this link: http://minetown.net/forum/post/last/m/672632/viewthread/3000081-blocked-from-spamhaus-heres-your-fix

[lordgandalf]

Hmmz lets explain why spamhaus puts you on their list.
spamhaus.org is a spam protection provider they do this by blocking ips.
From the start this has been used in mail servers all around the world.
mojang decided to use their database to protect minecraft servers.
What their idea for this was im not sure about.

Lets explain how you ISP`s networking works.
A provider has a finite number of ip adresses available to them.
So they cant give you youre personal ip because then another user doesnt have a ip.
So what do they use the give you each time anotherip adres every so many days they change it.
So lets pretend im ip 1.1.1.1 and i spam mailservers all around the world then i get blocked by spamhaus.
Now my ip expires and you get my ip guess what youre blocked from minecraft.

So the problem is that the ip is switchin every so days and you dont know if the previous owner has done on the ip you get.
If the ip is blocked you can get it out there but if you spam servers because off viri or other crap on youre network.
You will be blocked again soon.

So scan youre network with virusscanners and malware scanners to make sure youre not the spammer.
Then request removal from spamhaus and so on this is just the way spamhaus works.
In combo with dynamic ips.
Some providers provide semi-static ips mine has this so my ip hasnt changed and im not spamming so i have access.

Hope this will explains a little bit more about how and why spamhaus blocks certain ips.
And why you can get blocked again

[Ryuuga]

In my eyes it's a major problem of the hotel you don't want one of those on your network. The best solution I can give understated is to make it a habit to unblock your IP everytime before you login minecraft. Either that or find another network to use.

[Jackster21]

Depending on how good your hardware is, and the hotels internet, you could RDP to your home PC and play through that?
Then you would be using your home IP.

Or, VPN to your home PC and use its internet.

[lordgandalf]

Indeed Jack VPN isnt a bad idea anyway to protect youre pc and privacy

[Ryuuga]

okay and could one of you explain to a non-tech geek how one would do that? if not it's not much of a solution since most of us aren't tech geeks :P

[lordgandalf]

Buy account at a VPN company or you will need to do some geeky stuff involving linux/windows/mac and openvpn and such.
or install a windows vpn server and client and such

Like this: http://www.bdts.com.au/tips-and-resources/50-windows-7/147-windows-7-openvpn-server.html

[veryunderstated]

I'm lucky if I'm getting 80kbps here, plus I am on my home computer, I brought it with me to the hotel.

[Telluur]

Problem should be resolved.

@veryunderstated, You should be able to join again.


Locked.