Spammers sending email into China finally hit a wall this week as China tightened the knot. 127 servers around the world were banned, after the Internet Society of China had monitored the spam situation for a few months and determined that these particular servers were responsible for a the majority of spam coming into Chinese users' inboxes.

For a list of the servers, click here.

This is a great sign that Chinese ISPs are clamping down on spam, but for many spam fighters in China and abroad, it's still not enough. Though much spam originates from outside of China, the worst spam offenders in China–fingered repeatedly in Chinese BBSs, in this newsletter, and overseas news reports–are absent from the list. For example, Capitalnet ISP in Beijing, long a haven for overseas and domestic spam doesn't make it on the list. Why are they absent from the list of 23 banned servers and IP addresses in China?

This move to block spam from entering China is a great idea that's long overdue, and hopefully they'll be more adjustments to the list and additions soon. It seems the ISPs are bettering themselves here. But in the end, let's wait a few more months and check whether these bans hold and let's count the additions/subtractions to the list.