There are many different steps that are being taken in order to block spam from filling up our inboxes with unsolicited commercial e-mail. One of the most common measures taken is known as blacklisting. This is a process most commonly used by Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Domain Name Service (DNS) operators and network administrators which involves entering the IP address of known (or suspected) spammers into a network database. If a certain IP address is on the blacklist of an Internet Service Provider, for example, then that ISP will automatically block any e-mails coming from the blacklisted IP address. However, as some innocent computer users have found out, it is possible to have your own personal IP address blacklisted by mistake.

Perhaps the most common way for your IP address to become mistakenly blacklisted results from somebody who has hacked into your computer. A common (and illegal) practice used by spammers is to gain access to an unsuspecting computer user’s machine via a Trojan horse virus, which may allow them to send thousands of spam email messages using your internet connection. And believe it or not, this happens more often than you might think.

But just because your IP address is blacklisted doesn’t mean that your computer has been compromised by a hacker, either. Sometimes, especially with Cable and DSL services that use a dynamic IP address, your connection may be mistakenly blacklisted. Furthermore, it may even be a case of an administrator entering in a wrong number into their database. After all, computers are only as good as the information that is put into them, and humans make mistakes, too.