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Saturday, Nov 22, 2008
Bad company
BY SIMSON GARFINKEL
(04/21/00)
Porn and get-rich-quick spam is one thing -- I delete them unopened, along with messages with "friendly" headers from people I've never heard of. But what's the problem with polite opt-in offers from companies offering products or services I'm already inclined to consider? At best, I find a deal; at worst, I hit delete and move on.
In any event, looking to the federal government for "protection" is a bad answer; regulation, once started, rarely stops where you want it to. Better to request your Internet Service Provider to write more filtering options for the user. And while they're at it, maybe the ISPs can allow us to "opt-out" of those annoying animated banner ads.
-- C. Spector
A universal unsubscribe, or opt-out, list has been tried several times. Ask around the Internet about IEMMC, SafeMPS or the Direct Marketing Association's current attempt, the e-MPS. Not one of those attempts has worked.
The burden should be on the companies who wish to send e-mail to me to make sure that I actually want to receive it. Opt-out is not a solution for the problems caused by spam.
-- Matt Korth
Any legislation strong enough to prevent spam would be strong enough to trample the First Amendment.
It would be much better to promote the use of cryptographic signatures and mail software that can effectively filter on them. Legislation should be coupled with this to enforce accountability of e-mail sending certificates. This way, if you have a legitimate need to be anonymous, you can, but your message will not be cryptographically certified and many people will configure their mailers to ignore it. Conversely if you abuse your e-mail certificate, you will be traceable, and sanctions and fines could be applied.
-- Robert Forsman
Why are we so excited about stopping unsolicited e-mail, when the U.S. Post Office delivers unsolicited printed material every day but Sunday? Several pounds a month of colorful trash that I become responsible for recycling, unread. And there is no way that I can opt out of it, no filters for my mailbox.
Surely this is more troublesome than virtual trash.
-- Dick Walker
Damn spam!
BY
JANELLE BROWN
(04/18/00)
I'm glad that you are finally writing about the blight of our modern days, spam. I'd like to update your readers on a service that I use to get back at the spammers. Spamcop.net is both a free and a paid service to help you get the people who send out spam. I use it every day to make sure that no one spamming my e-mail box gets away with it.
Until the days when marketers no longer feel it is their right to flood our e-mail boxes with their crap, Spamcop is the best resource I know of to get back at the spammers.
-- Alex Zavatone
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