> Date: Thu, 02 Dec 2004 14:50:18 -0800 > From: Kenneth Porter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [Mimedefang] Lycos Screensaver that attacks Spammers > >> Democracy is three wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. >> Guess who gets eaten. > > I've always loved that quote.
I'm going to remember that one... Sometimes as a consumer, I definitely feel like the sheep! >> No, we're not vigilantes when we filter spam. Perhaps not vigilantes toward other organizations, but it would be arguable that doing things like removing and modifying attachments, and restricting inbound/outbound content because it doesn't meet a huge set of rules isn't in some form vigilantism toward the members who use your server. > Again, it's what Lycos is doing (arguably illegal), not the fact that it's > Lycos doing it, that's the problem. I don't think what Lycos is doing is illegal. Allowing the RIAA and MPAA to hack into your computer when you run a P2P is illegal (Thank goodness that bill died), making web requests to a public web server is in no way illegal. The only time that this could remotely be argued as illegal is when its done with crafted packets to spoof sources and corrupt TCP stacks, for example DDoS's. But a legitimate packet asking for information from a public web server isn't and should never be illegal. Think about it, if you made a rule that would ban automated systems from requesting information via a public web server, you may stop Lycos, but you'd also stop Google. All Lycos is doing is making a whole lot of legitimate web requests for information that gets tunneled to /dev/null. The worst it will do besides clog up the web servers of companies that arguably deserve it, is that it will skew the statistics for companies that use things like web bugs to build profiles. Frankly, if I start getting banner ads for home mortgages and the V word instead of computer related stuff, I'll likely ignore them just the same. The only other issue I see besides the morality one is that if everyone on a consumer network (DSL/Cable Modem) decided to participate, then the overall bandwidth consumed by the company may start to raise overhead cost which translate into higher monthly bills.... again. Honestly though, what can legislation do to prevent spamming? Ohio passed a nice little bill that provides prison time if you spam someone in Ohio. Oh hell, I guess this email can be considered Spam since it's off topic, and there's likely someone who lives in Ohio reading this now... Well, I guess I'll just have to live with the warrant. Honestly, I don't see Ohio having the ability to extradite someone from Bangladesh because they sent someone an email that the recipient didn't ask for. Can you see the state department for China now? "You wanna what? ummm... No." Lycos is right in what they are choosing to do, they are not hacking into other services, they are simply utilizing publicly accessible services on a voluntary basis. The morality of what Lycos is doing is very similar to the morality of P2P networks. Both are brilliantly conceived solutions to dilemmas presented by the Internet as a whole. However, they both have dark side consequences that make people think... _______________________________________________ Visit http://www.mimedefang.org and http://www.canit.ca MIMEDefang mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.roaringpenguin.com/mailman/listinfo/mimedefang
