On September 10, 2002 at 14:41 goemon@anime.net (Dan Hollis) wrote:
On Tue, 10 Sep 2002, Barry Shein wrote:
A problem with spam is not only aren't you likely to get caught, it's not even generally agreed to be illegal.
...some stuff snipped...
Fully half the fault and responsibility for the current state of affairs lies with providers who are unwilling to take any action to shut down well known spammers and abusers.
But much of that goes back to spamming not being clearly illegal, in two ways: 1. Some just take the attitude that if it's not illegal then it's ok, ignorable even if obnoxious behavior. No doubt the fact that it's paying customers doing the spamming in some cases colors this view. For others it's probably just "overworked, yet another distraction". 2. Some others take the attitude that if it's not illegal they're taking a chance (of lawsuit etc) if they shut someone down. Unless of course they have clear T&C's, but no matter how you write them some obnoxious, agressive, pond-scum can try to dispute that it applies to them. Been there, done that. Unless you do something nice and transparent like "you get 5 complaints per month free, the rest cost you $100/each." -- -Barry Shein Software Tool & Die | bzs@TheWorld.com | http://www.TheWorld.com Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 617-739-0202 | Login: 617-739-WRLD The World | Public Access Internet | Since 1989 *oo*