On Sat, 4 May 2002, Eric A. Hall wrote:
Uh, thanks. The government has all kinds of property protection laws. My mail spool is my property. Do the math.
Your car is your private property as well, but if you park it in a public place, with the engine running, and offer every passerby the opportunity to use it at no cost or obligation, "the government" is not going to help you get the car back when someone takes you up on your offer.
Laws are a necessary first step and will have the most positive effect. Micropayments won't be needed if the right laws are passed. Given the history, the biggest problem with the legal approach is that congress will pass a bad law instead of the one they need to, which is to extend the TCPA to include spam.
Yeah, another unenforceable law that nobody will give a shit about, except when it's time to pay for the [non-enforcing] "enforcement agents" (tax time). -- Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin@mfn.org If Governments really want us to behave like civilized human beings, they should give serious consideration towards setting a better example: Ruling by force, rather than consensus; the unrestrained application of unjust laws (which the victim-populations were never allowed input on in the first place); the State policy of justice only for the rich and elected; the intentional abuse and occassionally destruction of entire populations merely to distract an already apathetic and numb electorate... This type of demogoguery must surely wipe out the fascist United States as surely as it wiped out the fascist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The views expressed here are mine, and NOT those of my employers, associates, or others. Besides, if it *were* the opinion of all of those people, I doubt there would be a problem to bitch about in the first place... --------------------------------------------------------------------