[AMaViS-user] Blacklisting and spam configuration

[Peter C. <wig...@gm...>]

Hi, I was advised to ask the questions below here after posting on
freespamfilter org Amavisd-new forum:

I know nothing about email systems but I have a couple of question
relating to the configuration of Amavisd-new which I would very much
appreciate the views of the forum on.

I had my communications to a supposedly competent public authority
bounced back to me by the Amavisd-new system they had in place. I was
informed in the accompanying message that my email "could not be
delivered" and had been "discarded, sender blacklisted".

This first came to light when I had a Freedom Of Information request
rejected in this manner. I continued to receive these messages for the
following 3 months. When the Information Commissioner finally
intervened the authority claimed that they had no knowledge of ever
receiving this particular email, until the Commissioned contacted
them, and it had been an accident as they had introduced a new email
filtering system that had resulted in my emails being rejected rather
than being redirected to a central point.

In the intervening time although I had continued receiving the same
bounce back messages it became apparent that the authority were in
fact receiving my email as they responded to at least one.

So what I need to know is how easily the system could be accidentally
configured to discard emails with no trace of ever receiving them,
although sending a bounce back message, and the steps required to
reconfigure the system resulting in the same bounce back message being
sent but the email being redirected to a central point within the
authority.

It also became apparent that my emails, from other email addresses,
were being scanned for keywords, ie my name, and quarantined.

In a further instance the authority claim that another email of mine
sent from a different email address, although an address I had
previously used to contact the authority, was caught as spam and the
attachments, a small jpeg image file and a 53k pdf, were discarded
without trace. Is this likely to happen without specifically
configuring the system to achieve it?

Would be most grateful for any views or advise as despite being
regarded as public enemy #1, due to my efforts in putting the public
authority's performance and VFM under the scrutiny their own
procedures are conveniently failing to do, I am the one in the
position of having to justify myself at a Tribunal where I am hoping
to examine these email issues a great deal closer than the authority
will find comfortable, thanks in advance.

ama...@li...