Mail server setup, mailing lists, and Microsoft's "Smart Network Data Services"

I received a weird email today, and it first it looked like spam. It claimed to be from staff@hotmail.com, and I don't interact with Hotmail.com.

But on closer examination of the message, I realised there was something here worth investigating further.

Dear Jonathan Field,

Smart Network Data Services has determined that the trusted email address for your network 203.89.209.146 through 203.89.209.150 has either changed or the email address previously trusted is no longer valid. Consequently, your access to data for this network has been disabled, pending re-authorization.

Please visit the Smart Network Data Services site to remove the network and re-add the network with a valid trusted email address.

You are receiving this because you have signed up to be part of a preview release of Smart Network Data Services, or a Smart Network Data Services user has requested that this email be sent to this address. Smart Network Data Services is a revolutionary Windows Live Mail initiative, designed to allow everyone who owns IP space to contribute to the fight against spam and protect e-mail as a valued communications, productivity and commerce tool. If you have questions about our privacy policy, please read our privacy statement available at http://privacy.live.com.

I don't have a clue what "Smart Network Data Services" is, and I'm pretty sure I never signed up for a preview of it, but I Google it and it's actually quite interesting.

Smart Network Data Services home page.

Yeah - their website is hard to navigate, and poorly written, but there's some very useful data inside.

If you run a mail server and/or have clients with mailing lists, Smart Network Data Services promises to be of some assistance in the process of identifying how Hotmail treats messages from your mail servers.

I only just came across it now, and I found it extremely hard to navigate, so don't ask me for help using it, but I did manage to sign up and access an "IP address status" page - which thankfully told me I'm not a spammer. :o)

Its sad but true that managing a legitimate mailing list or mail server in the 21st century requires highly developed technical skills, and constant monitoring of the ever-changing anti-spam landscape. Within that context, Microsoft's Smart Network Data Services is a new tool to help keep the emails flowing.