Banning spam

[AreaCode707]

I went to a seminar this morning with Senator Debra Bowen (D) from the California State Legislature. There were about ten people there, total. She was talking about technology, and her two propositions relating to it. One was to tax internet commerce, and the other was to ban spam.

Now, with ten people there, there was plenty of chance to ask questions, so I asked several about the viability of banning spam, how successful she actually thought this would be if it did manage to pass. She thinks this would really make a difference. I'm, naturally, extraordinarily skeptical that this would even make a dent. What do you guys think about passing a law banning spam?

 

[rudeguy]

good in theory, but how would you enforce it?

 

[BatmanNate]

Originally posted by: Hatari Chic
I went to a seminar this morning with Senator Debra Bowen (D) from the California State Legislature. There were about ten people there, total. She was talking about technology, and her two propositions relating to it. One was to tax internet commerce, and the other was to ban spam.

Now, with ten people there, there was plenty of chance to ask questions, so I asked several about the viability of banning spam, how successful she actually thought this would be if it did manage to pass. She thinks this would really make a difference. I'm, naturally, extraordinarily skeptical that this would even make a dent. What do you guys think about passing a law banning spam?

Not a chance it hell it would make much difference. Do you have any idea how hard it would be to regulate something like that effectively without going Singapore on the internet? And taxing it is a poor idea as well, neither of these things are the government's responsibility.

 

[spidey07]

i don't know about a law banning spam...I'm a "keep the government out" type of guy.

But the technology is there to block it for a company...

http://www.frontbridge.com/
(used to be Bigfish) I use it here at work and its quite nice.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: rudeguy
good in theory, but how would you enforce it?

Right. Especially if it orginated out of country. I think we would have more luck making it illegal - punishable by death 🙂

 

[AreaCode707]

Agreed - she thinks a few lawsuits would subdue the spammers by virtue of threat. I don't think so, it's too easy to do it without being tracked. I also don't see what justification there is for making it a law. I mean, it's annoying, but do we make laws against things just cause they're annoying?

 

[djheater]

Would she ban physical junkmail?
Would she ban magazine inserts?
It's a silly idea really and entirely unviable I think.

 

[Looney]

I can't see how they can stop the spam though. It'll just move the spammers offshores... and with the nature of computers and the internet, that isn't that much of a problem.

 

[AreaCode707]

Senator Bowen seems to think that as long as spammers have someplace to send money, they're trackable and therefore can be managed to some extent.

 

[Zenmervolt]

It would be a logisitcal nightmare. I'd go so far as to say that it would be impossible to block all spam. People would just set up offshore accounts, etc. Plus there's always IP spoofing etc. Spam might be reduced, but it can't be eliminated.

ZV

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Hatari Chic
Senator Bowen seems to think that as long as spammers have someplace to send money, they're trackable and therefore can be managed to some extent.

She needs to look up money laundering in the dictionary then. 😛

ZV

 

[Kev]

Originally posted by: rudeguy
good in theory, but how would you enforce it?

you arrest or fine those who send out mass, unsolicited mail. it is not impossible to track where the mail comes from.

and this is a good idea to because spam costs millions of dollars in bandwidth and space.

 

[ElFenix]

wired

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: maladroit

Originally posted by: rudeguy
good in theory, but how would you enforce it?

you arrest or fine those who send out mass, unsolicited mail. it is not impossible to track where the mail comes from.

and this is a good idea to because spam costs millions of dollars in bandwidth and space.

LOL nice one.

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: maladroit

Originally posted by: rudeguy
good in theory, but how would you enforce it?

you arrest or fine those who send out mass, unsolicited mail. it is not impossible to track where the mail comes from.

and this is a good idea to because spam costs millions of dollars in bandwidth and space.

Do you really think that's feasible? I just can't see it happening- it's too easy to pick up and disappear when you're doing things over the net.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Hatari Chic
Do you really think that's feasible? I just can't see it happening- it's too easy to pick up and disappear when you're doing things over the net.

I'm with Paige on this one. The resources spent on tracking people would likely outstrip the benefits of catching the spammers.

ZV

 

[spidey07]

That's why you use an anti-spam service like the one I linked above.

It has stopped almost all spam for the entire company (our daily SMTP volume went from 43 GB/day to 33) 🙂