Q. What is a blacklist?

A. A blacklist is a database containing internet addresses (or IP addresses) used by individuals or companies sending spam.

Blacklists are created and managed by anti-spam organisations and are seen as an effective way of punishing known spammers.

Some of the most widely checked blacklists are Spamcop, MAPS blacklist, and SPAMHaus - blacklist.ie checks against these and many more. These organisations publish blacklists of IP addresses that are known spammers. Blacklists are used by thousands of ISPs as part of their defense against spam. A legitimate email system can also end up being blacklisted, resulting in mail delivery problems and subsequent costs for business.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs)  subscribe to blacklists in order to filter out spam sent across their network or to their subscribers. If you are listed and an ISP checks against the list, your message will not be delivered.

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Q. What information does Blacklist.ie provide?

A. Blacklist.ie is a free real-time service to check the main spam blacklists for your IP address. Blacklisted IP addresses are a common cause of email delivery issues.

There are hundreds of email blacklists, but only a small number actually affect your email delivery. With blacklist.ie, you can find out now if you're on any of these important blacklists straight away by simply checking  your IP on our Home Page . Checking your IP address is absolutely free and we will show you what blacklists we have checked and if you are listed.

Please note that blacklist.ie checks and monitors known blacklists to see if your IP address is listed. We can not remove IPs from a blacklist. We only report if you are listed on any of the blacklists that we monitor.

Blacklist.ie also provides a service to monitor your IP address. Blacklist.ie Alert! monitors your IP and will pro-actively alert you via email if it is blacklisted.

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Q. Why is my IP blacklisted?

A. It may be possible that your PC/network has been infected with a virus and used to send spam without your knowledge. The spam appears to come from your IP address and is therefore blacklisted. These Open-relay blacklists are based on open ports through which unauthorised network traffic is allowed to flow. Open-relay blacklists are the most widely used. Many of the better blacklists will run an automated script to verify that the evidence against you is genuine before blacklisting your IP.

A blacklist organisation will also list much larger blocks of IP addresses than those owned by the suspected abuser. So, if you are provided with an IP address and the spammer owns an address that is close in range to yours and the spammer gets listed on this type of blacklist, your IP address might be listed as well. Usually the reasoning behind this practice is that, by punishing innocent parties, the blacklister is putting more pressure on the ISP to disconnect the suspected spammer's Internet access.

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Q. How do I know if my IP is Blacklisted?

A. The first clue that you may have been blacklisted usually is that you will receive "bounce-back" emails from the destination domain to which you are attempting to deliver mail. Many of these bounce-backs will inform you of the technical reason that you are being blocked but some will not, depending on the administrator's preferences and type of software.

In order to check if you have been blacklisted, all you need to do is find your IP address and enter it into our IP check on our Home Page.

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