That is fantastic. ----- Original Message ----- From: John S. Quarterman <jsq@mids.org> To: Charles E. Yow, Esq. <CYow@GulfSouthY2k.com> Cc: <nanog@merit.edu> Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2000 4:40 PM Subject: Re: Spam, Law and Reality

The spam issue is serous no doubt, but unless everyone understands the implications of attempting to apply U.S. law to please understand some

concepts and reality. First the alleged violation has to be according to the letter of the law that is being applied, exactly by the letter of the law. Lets be very realistic, do we really want to seek to apply U.S. law to those outside the U.S? If this is the case then the end result could be

basic the

reverse, perhaps China would seek to apply Chinese law to American ISP's, network administrators, the end result being Americans who have never been to China being sentenced to life in prison or to death for posting matters the Chinese Government considers offensive. The witch hunt I see to address spamming is illogical and futile. Let me be very blunt, until someone is willing to take action all this talk about dealing with spammers is nothing more than saber rattling and is useless. I am an attorney in Massachusetts, and my experience is people get upset about spam and without exception no one is willing to follow through, I used to be willing to deal with spammers pro bono, but having been burned more than enough times by people "getting over it" that has passed. Talk is cheap.

We sued and won, http://www.mids.org/nospam/ but the spammer in question was inside the U.S., and I certainly understand your point of view. John S. Quarterman <jsq@mids.org>