Re: [cobalt-users] RE: OT ** ORBZ **

[Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Francisco Sánchez wrote:

> Your are right, and since there is no such law, why not to make it?

Because (a) it would be unenforceable, (b) it would put the burden on
the receiver of the spam, instead of on the spammer where it belongs,
and therefore it would legitimize the sending of spam, and (c) because
Americans don't believe in oppressive legislation.

> I seen
> nothing wrong in regulation.  When we go in our car and see a red light we
> know we have to stop (yes, some people do not stop, but if caught will have
> to pay a fine).

What percent of the people who run redlights actually end up paying a
fine?  No way to know, right.  But certainly only a very small
percentage.

> The it is not a good law.  A good one would allow you to simply report the
> ofense and, if supported with evidence, the punishment would come for the
> offender.  If you have to pay money to enforce a law, then there is
> something very wrong.

What would the evidence be?  An email?  Come on now, I could generate
any email at all in any text editor.  So I have to back it up with
logs?  Okay, I can generate any logs I need in any text editor.

Okay, here's a scenario... Let's say your country has a criminal law
aginst spammers (that's the only kind of law where the authorities would
prosecute instead of the victim)...

So I for some reason decide I don't like you.  I create in my text
editor an "email" that looks like spam coming from you.  I create
thousands of them; it's easy; I use a little perl script to make some
changes in them so they're slightly different.  Then I create in my text
editor some "log files" that look like all those emails came from your
system into my system.  Now I turn them over to the "authorities".

So you're saying the authorities are right to automatically punish you? 
Or are you saying they should give you a chance to defend yourself at
your own expense?  Or are you saying that the government should pay for
your defense?

Sorry, I don't think you'd like being on the wrong end of that kind of
law.

Either you're a bit naieve, or don't believe in people's rights.

This morning I got a piece of spam from a new restaurant chain; I called
to explain to them why it wasn't a good idea to use spam to advertise
their new chain.

The lady I spoke to got extremely angry and told me if I didn't want to
receive her email I should write them and asked to be removed from the
list.

So that's money I spent to receive the spam, money I sent to make the
phone call, money I now need to spend to write them, and since spammers
lie, it's doubtful I'll ever get off their list.

And guess what, the email address I'm supposed to write to is hosted at
yahoo, and has already been turned off because of the spam complaints,
so now I cannot remove myself.

What did I do?  I reported them to their ISP and to their hosting
company for spamming, and to the SEC (Security and Exchange Commission)
for attempting to selling me on investing in their "opportunity"
illegally.

Will anything come of any of it?  I doubt it.  But it made me feel
better for a few minutes <smile>.

> For server in Asia, maybe no way.  However the spammer is not only the guy
> who sends the spam.  It is also the one who pays for the spam to be sent,
> and very often they are not in Asia, just read the spam and you will find
> lost of PO Boxes and 800 numbers located in the USA or Canada.

So now the burden is on me to prove the guy with the POBox and
800-number in the US actually ordered the company in Asia to send me the
spam?  Come on; I have better things to do with my life.  Compared to
that cost, the cost of the spam itself is minimal; which is why it's
easier for me to just kill the spam at my routers.

> Please do not misunderstand me.  If I say that a lot of spam (at least the
> spam arriving into my mailboxes) come for the USA, I do not mean that
> Americans are big spammers.  I just consider it something natural as the
> Internet is much more developed there and there are more people who have
> internet access.  In Spain and most of Europe we still call high speed a 128
> kbps. cable connection or a 256 kbps. DSL one.  And they are expensive
> yet...

Americans are big spammers, so are Koreans and Russians.  And the best
way to get rid of the spam is at my gate.  With whatever kind of shotgun
I choose to use <smile>.

Jeff
-- 
Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Linux and Cobalt/Sun/RaQ Consulting
nobaloney.net
P. O. Box 52672, Riverside, CA  92517
voice: (909) 778-9980  *  fax: (702) 548-9484