At 16:53 24/09/2003, you wrote:
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On 9/24/03 9:22 AM, "agility" wrote: > Perhaps commons sense is on the horizon... > But from California of all places :) >> http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/bal-spam0924,0,763694.st> ory?coll=sfla-home-headlines Quote from article "Many states, including California, have enacted laws aimed at cracking down on unsolicited e-mail, whose topics can include products such as sexual enhancers, "anti-aging" creams, weight-loss pills and heavily discounted home loans. But Murray said his bill, effective Jan. 1, would be the first to hold an advertiser liable along with the spam merchant. "We think it is going to be the toughest bill in the nation," the senator said Tuesday. "The beauty of this is you go after the advertisers. They are fineable and attachable." This I think is the best method of dealing with the SPAM. Go after the ones who really are creating the cash flow. Don't know why it takes a recalled Governor to figure this out. Fine and jail the companies that the SPAM is selling should close the hole rather quickly :)))
But I think you'll find that these companies are from overseas, thus the law will have no difference as it cannot be enforced. I'm sure they could prevent the USA delivery side of a company from working, but these are often unrelated companies that do things like process mail - thus are doing nothing wrong (unless you think UPS should be responsible for the advertising made by their customers for the packages UPS are delivering on their behalf?) Equivalent situation in the UK today (on the news last night) - a French company is posting Hundreds of thousands of letters strongly implying the person receiving the letter has won #10,000. They haven't, they'll be entered into a prize draw (which I gather has no actual date of being drawn). While entering they are 'encouraged' to order products from a catalogue as these are processed faster (or so it implies) - thus people buy something in order to get their #10,000 cheque - but of course they're not going to get #10,000 which if they read the very small print they would discover. They had an interview with the manager of a business that process the French companies post (eg open the envelopes, bank the cheques) and while he thinks that what his customer is doing is wrong, he said there are plenty of other companies that would do his job. He isn't doing anything wrong, other than having a customer whose morals he doesn't agree with. The French company have been in trouble all over Europe but still they are trading.
Of course, the proposed Bill would perhaps have an impact on the big companies that your every day American knows - but how many of them are deliberately sending spam? (and I mean deliberately, not the many whose name is in a lot of spam because of their affiliates don't follow the rules of their affiliate scheme).
Much as I appreciate the effort made by various Governments, I'm not sure it will have a great effect.
Just my 2 cents though!