Blacklisting

When we here of blacklisting we may think of the hollywood blacklist of the McCarthian era. We may think of the good guys who save us from SPAM. I think of credit bureaus, Chexsystems, no fly lists and other evil things that are supposed to be for good but are misused and move us toward pure fascism. Lets look at spam blacklisting. Safe enough right, NOT. There is an evil organization out there called SORBS. They make a point of deciding who can and cannot send email. They blacklist you your toast. Try sending an email straight from a DSL account. I dont mean through the mail server of your ISP. Try running your own server like I did. No worky. Thanks a lot SORBS.

How about Chexsystems. You get on there and for 5 years you cannot get a bank account. You have no rights to get removed and any pissed bank can report you.

I think people need to be outraged by blacklisting and band together to ban all forms of blacklisting. It is evil and must be stopped.

Even the infamous no fly lists are evil. Sure they may or may not stop a terrorist but if your name happens to be the same as a terrorist, you are fscked.

What makes a blacklist a blacklist is:

You have no right to find out why you are being denied something when you are denied
You cannot remove yourself
Poor regulation for who can put you there.

How about sex offender registries. YOu may say, they keep kids safe. Well maybe, but what they do is make it nearly impossible for a rehabilitated sex offender who wants to do things right to make a living. The ones who reoffend are likely going to not register. Blacklists only hurt the people who want to play by the rules.

What ever happend to forgiveness. Or if they are so freaking dangerous, dont let them out of prison to begin with.