Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 23:21:03 -0600 (MDT) From: Wes Peters <softweyr@xmission.com> To: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: pulling email addresses from freebsd lists Message-ID: <199710240521.XAA04620@obie.softweyr.ml.org> In-Reply-To: <199710210903.SAA00631@word.smith.net.au> References: <E0xNYrc-0004nJ-00@oak67.doc.ic.ac.uk> <199710210903.SAA00631@word.smith.net.au>
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Mike Smith writes:
> > I disagree, I believe that (mail) protocols which require authentication
> > and tracability of the sender would cut spam dramatically,
>
> This is absurdly naive.
>
> > If, when you received spam, you
> > could determine the senders email, name, and phone number the amount of
> > complaints to spammers and their ISP's would rise massively. It would
> > also provide the technological infrastructure that governments need to
> > enforce anti-spam legislation.
>
> Alright! Big Brother, here we come.
>
> You DO NOT want what you are proposing, believe me.
>
> > If the spammers knew their identity was available, and knew they would
> > get caught and prosecuted, then they wouldn't do it.
>
> They would move offshore.
Or, I'd move offshore and set up an e-mail bouncer, and charge them
beacoup $$$ to bounce their spam-o-grams at innocent bystanders like
each of us.
This is another peek at the grimy underside of human nature: whenever a
new communications media becomes available, some slimeball marketroids
are going to take advantage of it. It is against the law in the
U.S. state of Oregon to make unsolicited telemarketing calls to
residential phones. What does this mean? There are no large
telemarketing organizations in the state of Oregon. As a matter of
fact, most of them are here in Utah, but they still call people in
Oregon, because that is not against the law!
> So what? You've sacrificed your ability to
> participate in legitimate anonymous communications, and done nothing
> about the spam issue.
Precisely. The problem with "spam mail" is that it is so difficult to
separate from "real mail." If everyone on the planet starts dropping
mail from hotmail.com, et al, or refuses to allow connections from them,
perhaps they will cease and desist. This, like so many other on-line
issues, needs to be handled via network channels and *not* legal
channels. If we get the lawyers involved, we'll all end up screwed.
And we *certainly* don't want the U.S. Federal Birbrained Idiots
involved.
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
http://www.xmission.com/~softweyr softweyr@xmission.com
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