True that a legal deterrent may keep a few honest people honest... but the
one's your really worried about will not be deterred... They can launch
their "attack" from another country - or through one... In fact, they could
conceivably violate a federal law from downtown Washington, DC., on a daily
basis and still maintain their anonymity...
The highway model is probably the one that says it best though (thanks)...
Almost nobody really feels deterred from speeding... such that 80% of
drivers exceed the speed limit by more than 10 miles per hour on a daily
basis - often as a matter of course.
So, by analogy, if a federal law were put in place, it stands to reason that
80% of spammers would continue to break the law... some small number might
be prosecuted, even severely, but in the end... we would still have just as
much spam, and the net difference would be that the costs of operating on
the Internet for average users would rise to cover the costs of the legal
bills of the poor ISP's caught in the middle between the judicial system,
and the real crooks who take advantage.
Even if the law was perfect enough to avoid prosecuting an ISP caught in one
of these "examples" that would act as a deterrent... they would still pay
some hefty legal bills just to be responsibly "prepared" for the case...
Everyone would pay that price tag.
In the end the point is, legislation will not be an effective means of
significantly reducing the amount of spam that traverses the 'net... That
should be the goal.
Better technology is cheaper than lawyers, much easier to widely deploy, and
far more effective.
_Pete
P.S. To examine the dynamics of a software with the technology to beat
current anti-spam measures, in the context of a legal precedent against it's
use... Look at the ambiguity involved in the Linux / DVD issue, or what
about MP3s? Violations of copyright (who knows for sure)... but both of
these are so wide spread that no amount of legal threat is capable of
impacting the use of these technologies in the slightest. What about bootleg
software & other CDs from foreign countries... sure, it's illegal, but these
things are still there and not slowing down.
----- Original Message -----
From: R. Scott Perry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2000 12:13
Subject: RE: [IMail Forum] Getting Spammed to death...
> > The result being that vast numbers of advertisers would
> > be regularly violating any laws as a matter of course...
> > numbers so vast, in fact, as to make the laws unenforceable.
>
> <G> Just as speeding on highways is so common that it is unenforceable.
> But if you get the spammers in question (the ones that know that what they
> are doing is wrong and illegal), they deserve it, and the example set may
> help minimize others doing the same.
> -Scott
>
> Please visit http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html
> to be removed from this list.
>
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