Senators' trying to eliminate spam

[markblair]

I doubt that we will ever live in a World without spam. I agree that something needs to be done but as soon as any law gets passed, spammers will find another way around the system. The government wants spammers to honor cancellation requests but what about the ones that do and then sell your e-mail address to their buddies because you've now proven that you are real?

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/04/11/spam.bill.reut/index.html

[Living Media]

The IETF is putting together a group (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/29545.html) to more firmly define exactly what spam is, and is not. That's been part of the problem with passing laws against spam: there's too much wiggle room in the definition.

I favour an IETF approach more than a US Congress approach because the Internet is not a US-only phenomenon. Many companies that send snailmail spam tend to restrict themselves to a certain geographical region, especially if they're a smaller business. The potential for return on investment diminishes the farther away a client is from the store location. But anyone and their grandmother can send spam to anyone, in any country, from any country, for any reason. And they don't pay a cent more than everyone else pays. There's no great grand investment, so there's little (perceived) loss in sending out nontargeted spam. Also, thus far, Congress as a whole has shown a shocking and repeated amount of ignorance about Internet-related issues. Someone who actually understands the medium is better equipped to start providing definitions and suggesting deterrents.

I think that for something like this, people are ultimately going to have to take action themselves rather than just being content to leave law-passing and law-enforcement to congress and sysadmins. People need to be educated about how to properly trace spam, how to properly report spam, and not to just delete it.

[markblair]

Great post. I agree wholeheartedly. Any time I read that the 'government' is going to fix spam I doubt every bit of it. Like you said, they don't understand everything that is involved. I think that's scarier than receiving spam itself. Reporting is good but with the way that some spammers fake things, you could be blacklisting the wrong company or person. Education about the issue is not only important for the government but also for the average e-mail user as well, like you've already pointed out.

[1000rpm]

As a hosting company when I get spam from other hosting companies trying to get me to sign up to their services I find it quite annoying even a bit rude! And it's happened 3 times already this week!

[James]

when i get thoes i just e-mail the comp and ask them to remove me 9 times out of 10 they do and the ones who dont are being hasled by a scriptkiddie( note i didnt use the term hacker becase a true hacker would not resort to such a level, or even a cracker) who got pissed because they closed his/her/its account on them for spaming or anyother reason. when that happonds i send the header info along to them and also report them to there ISP. about a week or two later it stops and the user does not exist any more. its realy got ot suck when i report them to TWcable or to SBC dsl tech:)
sence for the most part there the only two big time cable or dsl providers for a huge market place:)
laters
James

[thebyp2]

spam is just a way of live. kinda like hippos or other related real things.

[allan]

Originally posted by thebyp2:

spam is just a way of live. kinda like hippos or other related real things.

Except, Hippos don't force their way into your house...they hang out in the mud and wallow -- or whatever Hippos do in the mud -- all day. If spammer hung out in the mud and wallowed all day, instead of sending me mail I would be happy to let them alone :D.

[thebyp2]

Originally posted by allan:

Except, Hippos don't force their way into your house...

... depends where you live ;)