FC: John Gilmore on Hippocratic Oath and anti-spam principles

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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http://www.politechbot.com/p-04926.html

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To: declan () well com, gnu () new toad com
Subject: Re: FC: Thanks for your help! Comcast unblocks mail from The Well
Date: Mon, 07 Jul 2003 00:57:36 -0700
From: John Gilmore <gnu () toad com>

Declan said:
> The Hippocratic Oath requires doctors to pledge not to use their skills to
> harm others. Wouldn't it be wonderful if companies providing mail service
> voluntarily pledged to adhere to a similar set of principles for dealing
> with spam? ("I pledge not to blacklist entire Internet service providers."

After years of divisive discussions, a very similar pledge/oath/policy
was what EFF was able to come to agreement on:

  "Any measure for stopping spam must ensure that all non-spam
   messages reach their intended recipients."

Perhaps none of us has yet come up with a silver bullet to solve the
problem of spam -- but it IS within our power to solve the problem of
overzealous anti-spam measures.

        John Gilmore
        Electronic Frontier Foundation

PS: Isn't it amazing that there is even anyone who argues that
Internet providers should NOT be delivering ordinary email, like
personal or business messages, to their customers?




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