[Bug 8335] New: Remove Pay-for-Play DNSBL Rules Backed by For-Profit Vendor

https://bz.apache.org/SpamAssassin/show_bug.cgi?id=8335

            Bug ID: 8335
           Summary: Remove Pay-for-Play DNSBL Rules Backed by For-Profit
                    Vendor
           Product: Spamassassin
           Version: 4.0.2
          Hardware: All
                OS: All
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: Rules
          Assignee: [email protected]
          Reporter: [email protected]
  Target Milestone: Undefined

The following rules should be removed from SpamAssassin, as they lend undue
credibility to a for-profit, pay-for-play company masquerading as a trusted,
open reputation authority:

- RCVD_IN_VALIDITY_CERTIFIED
- RCVD_IN_VALIDITY_CERTIFIED_BLOCKED
- RCVD_IN_VALIDITY_RPBL
- RCVD_IN_VALIDITY_RPBL_BLOCKED

These rules are based on data from Validity, a private company that acquired
SenderScore and now sells deliverability services. One such service is Sender
Certification (https://www.validity.com/sender-certification/), where senders
can pay to improve their deliverability. This creates a clear conflict of
interest when integrated into an open-source spam filtering tool.

It’s especially concerning that this line
(https://github.com/apache/spamassassin/blob/234b4b0c34067549525f77276ca6e09c899a42d7/rules/20_dnsbl_tests.cf#L152)
in the SpamAssassin ruleset includes a direct link to a sales page for
Validity, reinforcing the perception that SpamAssassin is endorsing their
business model.

Including these rules in an open-source project effectively supports a
pay-for-play ecosystem under the guise of objective scoring. It misleads users
into trusting a proprietary and profit-driven system as if it were a neutral
third-party source.

SpamAssassin should not promote or integrate DNS-based scoring mechanisms from
companies whose core business depends on payment for reputation. Doing so
compromises the integrity of the project and the trust the open-source
community places in it.

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