I look after The Chechnya List. Last Saturday, the Warsaw server (plearn.edu.pl) apparently sent a SPAM message with the result that this address has been put on the "Realtime Black List " It has the effect that the PLEARN site is not pingable. Has anyone heard of this - is it an official function or is this some kind of email crime or mischief? You can appreciate that there is grave concern at the moment through the gruesome murders of the British telecommunications engineers who were trying to restore telecommunications for Chechnya. I don't know if the RBL is a genuine system function or something else. If I check tracert 148.81.18.1 a message comes up pointing to the RBL website - and tracking this ipnumeric address leads to the offending message. I complained to the "volunteers" who seem to run this operation who responded that this address will remain blocked until the security problem has been dealt with. Can anyone explain what is going on here please? The RBL site is at http://maps.vix.com and http://maps.vix.com/rbl/ Any help or advice regarding telecommunications problems with Chechnya will be appreciated. Ross Wilcock [log in to unmask]