Re: How do you stop outgoing spam?

[Barry Shein <bzs () world std com>]

For about 20 years I've been saying on these lists:

      Civilization is the knowledge that your house is reasonably
      locked up even though you have glass windows.

(most) door locks (usually) work because breaking into them is
accepted as illegal and there's a finite chance of being caught and
going to jail for breaking them. Not because they're generally
impervious to technology (e.g., crowbars, sharp kicks, charge cards.)

A problem with spam is not only aren't you likely to get caught, it's
not even generally agreed to be illegal.

Hell, it's not even generally agreed to be anti-social except among
the anointed.

The solution (at this point) is not to nail plywood over all your
windows. First we (as a society) need to agree spamming is even
illegal.

I fear those of us who don't like spam are rapidly losing that battle,
however, and spam is becoming a regular and normal business activity.

The spammers are winning by demonstration. You have probably 90% of
internet users see spam in their mailbox every day and they come to
believe that it must be ok, even if annoying. Like telemarketing
calls.

         -b


On September 10, 2002 at 13:48 avg () exigengroup com (Vadim Antonov) wrote:
> On Tue, 10 Sep 2002, Barry Shein wrote:
>
> > And, although some won't like me saying this, having the technical
> > community deal with these new criminals is a bit like sending the boy
> > scouts after Al-Qaida.
> >
> > Unfortunately it's going to take a much harsher view of reality than
> > "maybe this regexp will stop crime".
>
>
> Last time I checked policemen weren't designing door locks.  Not even in
> business of selling them.
>
> What we have is a lot of open doors having prominent signs "come in and
> take whatever you please" on them.  This can and should be fixed by the
> technical community.
>
> US is not going to send troops to Nigeria just to catch some spammers 
> anyway.  Consider that a "harsher view of reality" :)
>
> --vadim
>
> PS. Criminals are criminals because they are stupid.  If they were smart
>     they could make good living legally.  Governments avoid competition, 
>     too.