Will This Put an End to Spam?

[EscortBiz]

...Or is this guy talking out of his 90 year old asshole

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http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/sil...ey/5722718.htm
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New weapon for spam: bounty

By Michael Bazeley
Mercury News

Spammers beware. Larry Lessig wants to put a price on your head.

The Stanford law professor will team with Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, on Monday to unveil a bill that would require unsolicited commercial e-mails to be identified as advertising -- and then put a bounty on anyone who breaks that law.

If the law passes, citizens could be eligible for rewards of thousands of dollars or more if they're the first to provide the government with proof and the identity of offending spammers.

``It's like bounty hunters in the old West,'' said Lessig, who most recently argued a landmark copyright protection case before the U.S. Supreme Court. ``You bring 'em in and get the bounty.''

Lessig is so sold on his idea, he's offering a guarantee: He'll quit his Stanford job if the bill becomes law and ``does not substantially reduce the level of spam.''

Lessig's idea is only the latest in a long list of efforts to combat what has become the scourge of the Information Age.

Despite myriad technological and legal efforts to curb spam, Internet users are getting more unsolicited e-mail come-ons than ever, accounting for about 40 percent of all e-mail traffic.

Lessig said his idea, which he first proposed more than two years ago, is better than many of the technological ploys used to combat spam, such as blacklisting e-mail servers allegedly used to send spam.

The first piece of his plan, labeling, is a common approach to the problem. Any unsolicited commercial e-mail would have to include the tag ``ADV'' in the subject line, clearly identifying it as an advertisement. The label would allow Internet service providers or individual users to filter out -- or filter in -- messages before viewing them.

In the past, labeling efforts haven't worked.

California passed a law in 1998 that required senders of unsolicited e-mail advertisements to add ``ADV:'' or ``ADV:ADLT'' to the subject lines of their messages. Violators are guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a $500 fine.

Since then, almost no one has been prosecuted under the law, chiefly due to a lack of consumer complaints and the difficulty in tracking down the spammers.

``Just labeling alone has been demonstrated not to be effective,'' said Ray Everett-Church, chief privacy officer of the ePrivacy Group in Philadelphia. ``There are many spammers ignoring it.''

That's why, Lessig and Lofgren said, lawmakers need to back up the labeling requirement with strong enforcement. Despite its best efforts, the government doesn't have the resources to hunt down and prosecute every illicit spammer. Hence, the citizen spam cop, motivated by a reward.

``This gives a tool for people to fight back,'' Lofgren said. ``And it gives a disincentive to spammers to continue.''

Lessig predicted that plenty of ``technically qualified and eager people'' -- college students, perhaps -- would jump at the chance to track down spammers for the right price.

The bounty hunters would need to trace the offending e-mail to its source, identify the sender and provide proof to the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC would investigate and fine the offender, if appropriate. The bounty hunter would get 20 percent of the fine.

``You have to be a little private investigator,'' Lessig said.

Lofgren's bill, which will be introduced next week, would also require commercial e-mails to include a way for recipients to opt out of future mailings. Companies or individuals that send e-mail to people who opted out would face penalties.

It will have competition in Congress. Another bill would outlaw e-mails that have deceptive subject lines and hide the senders' identity. California lawmakers, meanwhile, are considering a bill that would allow Internet users to sue e-mail marketing firms for $500 for each piece of unsolicited advertising.

[Dj Furious]

Maybe they should put bounties on telemarketers and companies that send junk mail...

fuck who gives a shit?? so lame

[stocktrader23]

What I don't get is all these people bitching that spam is illegal, blah blah blah, and all the spammers would have to do to stay legal is add a few words to the subject line. How hard is that? Spam main won't slow down and the worst that anyone will see is more and more messages with ADV in the tag.

Hell lots of people on GFY yell that spam is illegal.

[stocktrader23]

Originally posted by Dj Furious
Maybe they should put bounties on telemarketers and companies that send junk mail...

fuck who gives a shit?? so lame

Telemarketers pay a fee to the FTC for the right to call and the Federal Government makes money when companies send junk mail. I could see the FTC requiring a yearly fee for the right to spam in the future.

[ldinternet]

... or maybe they should concentrate on capturing Richard Goldberg and Michael Alfonso, rather than some guy pressing a few buttons and hitting a few keys.


Bounty for spammers? hahahaa

[playa]

anti-spammers have been doing that for years. They litterally go out their way to track you down. there are stories of spammers getting stalked and shit,, really crazy stuff

[Kat - Fast]

Originally posted by ldinternet
... or maybe they should concentrate on capturing Richard Goldberg and Michael Alfonso, rather than some guy pressing a few buttons and hitting a few keys.


Bounty for spammers? hahahaa

I do think we should get shit in perspective - the authorities are better spending our £$ on catching real criminals instead of drafting new laws and reports on 'crimes' that hurt no-one

[steffie]

Here is an idea

Do something about the spam in my PO Box.

The email is a lot easier to delete than a million papers from McMahon and win a million dollars..

[Madball]

Originally posted by playa
anti-spammers have been doing that for years. They litterally go out their way to track you down. there are stories of spammers getting stalked and shit,, really crazy stuff

The most wickedest (though not too scary) story I ever read on SPT or wherever was some anti who printed a spam email out on paper, wiped his ass with that and then sent that via postal mail to the guy who spammed him haha

Another guy wrote he got a death threat written in blood hahahaahahha Gotta love antis...

[NJ Dave]

Originally posted by Kat
I do think we should get shit in perspective - the authorities are better spending our £$ on catching real criminals instead of drafting new laws and reports on 'crimes' that hurt no-one

Unauthorized unsolicited unwanted e-mail does hurt people. People are paying for that bandwidth, mostly ISPs and Hosting Companies.

Not to say that the government should spend lots of money trying to track down these people, but it is a misconception that spam is a victimless crime.

I don't go out of my way to report spammers unless they go out of their way to hide their identities. If they do that, they're trying not to be found, and there's probably a good reason for that. but if I get spam about enlarging my penis or seeing Kandy's newest collegiate slut video, i just fire up that delete key and onto my next e-mail.

[Rochard]

This will be fun.

California passed a law last year, yet that hasn't changed anything. I'm not aware that SPAM is illegal. Is is?

We run a double opt in list; People have to ask to be put on this list and then have to confirm via email that they want to be on this list. And yet still people complain that we are sending them SPAM. They requested to be on our mailing list. Bullshit.

I still don't understand this. The phone just rang and I ran downstairs to get it - Shortly after 8Am this morning - and it was some long distance company. Why doesn't someone shut them down? At least with email I don't have to get up.

This isn't a problem. I downloaded my email this morning and got thirty SPAMs, most of which were mainstream. All we need to do is forward all of these mainstream SPAMs to this guy and we'll bury him.

[NJ Dave]

Originally posted by RocHard
We run a double opt in list; People have to ask to be put on this list and then have to confirm via email that they want to be on this list. And yet still people complain that we are sending them SPAM. They requested to be on our mailing list. Bullshit.

That's certainly not spam. If I ask for you to mail me things, I wanted it. If you have a record of this, it's not spam.

If you see my e-mail on a newsgroup that I posted to and send mail to that, it's unsolicited, unwanted spam.

People are stupid, the large portion of the internet doesn't even read things when they put their e-mail address in, to complain about spam is just dumb. If you go to Best Buy, tell them you want their circular, and they send it to you. Do you have a right to chew them out? Same goes for e-mail.

If any laws like this do pass, there will need to be a clear-cut set of guidelines that law-makers set to clearly establish the difference between crap you asked for, and crap you didn't.

[ServerGenius]

Originally posted by NJ Dave


Unauthorized unsolicited unwanted e-mail does hurt people. People are paying for that bandwidth, mostly ISPs and Hosting Companies.

Not to say that the government should spend lots of money trying to track down these people, but it is a misconception that spam is a victimless crime.

I don't go out of my way to report spammers unless they go out of their way to hide their identities. If they do that, they're trying not to be found, and there's probably a good reason for that. but if I get spam about enlarging my penis or seeing Kandy's newest collegiate slut video, i just fire up that delete key and onto my next e-mail.

Wrong they hurt our industry BIG TIME because the shit ends with
people who are not supposed to get it.......like kids for example.
And then all of you start crying when there is a new bill presented
by your good friend A-shhahahahaha and whine about your freedom.

If it wasn't for SPAM the crackdown on porn would be a lot less.
But you people are too stupid to understand that. And yes I know
mainstream also uses SPAM because you showed them how to
do it....but Teenies getting ass fucked by 2 black guys and 3
whities is a hell of a lot worse than a kid receiving some spam for
a second mortgage......think about it the next time you start crying.

DynaMite

[stocktrader23]

Originally posted by RocHard
This will be fun.

California passed a law last year, yet that hasn't changed anything. I'm not aware that SPAM is illegal. Is is?

We run a double opt in list; People have to ask to be put on this list and then have to confirm via email that they want to be on this list. And yet still people complain that we are sending them SPAM. They requested to be on our mailing list. Bullshit.

I still don't understand this. The phone just rang and I ran downstairs to get it - Shortly after 8Am this morning - and it was some long distance company. Why doesn't someone shut them down? At least with email I don't have to get up.

This isn't a problem. I downloaded my email this morning and got thirty SPAMs, most of which were mainstream. All we need to do is forward all of these mainstream SPAMs to this guy and we'll bury him.

Telemarketers pay a fee to the FTC for the right to call and the Federal Government makes money when companies send junk mail. I could see the FTC requiring a yearly fee for the right to spam in the future.

[EscortBiz]

Originally posted by RocHard
This will be fun.

California passed a law last year, yet that hasn't changed anything. I'm not aware that SPAM is illegal. Is is?

We run a double opt in list; People have to ask to be put on this list and then have to confirm via email that they want to be on this list. And yet still people complain that we are sending them SPAM. They requested to be on our mailing list. Bullshit.

I still don't understand this. The phone just rang and I ran downstairs to get it - Shortly after 8Am this morning - and it was some long distance company. Why doesn't someone shut them down? At least with email I don't have to get up.

This isn't a problem. I downloaded my email this morning and got thirty SPAMs, most of which were mainstream. All we need to do is forward all of these mainstream SPAMs to this guy and we'll bury him.

get a cordless phone

[Cindyff]

I can understand these anti spammers. I open my e-mail each morning to find dozens of spam mails and that's after they are filtered through SpamCop.net.

Its not difficult to set up an automated double opt in e-mail system That adds and removes e-mail addresses without you ever having to do a thing. We send out 500 newsletters an hour every hour every day with our ISP approval and if someone gets feed up with the newsletters each e-mail has an automatic remove button ( and it actually works ) This took our tech guys 2 hours to set up and the software costs a few hundred bucks, its sweet and saves us loads of time.
Cindy xx

[SykkBoy]

Originally posted by DynaSpain


Wrong they hurt our industry BIG TIME because the shit ends with
people who are not supposed to get it.......like kids for example.
And then all of you start crying when there is a new bill presented
by your good friend A-shhahahahaha and whine about your freedom.

this is why mailers seperate differentiate between "bulkmail" and "spam"

to me, spam is spidering emails and just sending or dictionary spamming....mailing to a list where someone somewhere has filled out a form is bulkmailing....

and Ashhahahahaha's bitch isn't just about spam, it's about ALL porn....religious fanatics are very very dangerous.......so if you think he's just going to go after a few guys sending email when he gets the smell of blood on him...you're very wrong....he's going to want to go after ALL of us....who do you think pisses him off more? a guy sending emails or people who provide tons of free, unprotected hardcore pictures (like TGP's)?

[Dj Furious]

What is the big deal with spam? I agree that spammers that use mainstream topics for adult material shouldn't happen, but is that really worth all the fuss?
I get a few junk emails, I delete em... a few clicks of the mouse.
What about the shitloads of wasted junkmail that comes to your house? How much fucking garbage is that? How many fuckin trees are getting cut down and just thrown in the garbage?

Just look at all your junkmail, and multiply that buy how many mailboxes in the world that is...!!

I'm not an enviromentalist but does e-mail spam really hurt anyone but the crybaby losers with nothing better to do than cry about that shit? I think junkmail is worse than email spam, but nobody seems to give a fuck about that?

[ServerGenius]

Originally posted by SykkBoy2


this is why mailers seperate differentiate between "bulkmail" and "spam"

to me, spam is spidering emails and just sending or dictionary spamming....mailing to a list where someone somewhere has filled out a form is bulkmailing....

and Ashhahahahaha's bitch isn't just about spam, it's about ALL porn....religious fanatics are very very dangerous.......so if you think he's just going to go after a few guys sending email when he gets the smell of blood on him...you're very wrong....he's going to want to go after ALL of us....who do you think pisses him off more? a guy sending emails or people who provide tons of free, unprotected hardcore pictures (like TGP's)?

I can agree with you for a part. Email spam has 1 big difference
People get confronted with it wether they like it or not. TGP and
freesites you have to take somekind of activity to get to it.

But yes you are right that all the free porn doesn't help either.
Actually you could define TGP's as SPAM aswell because that's
basically what it is with the exception that in most cases it's not
suplied in an unsolicited way.

DynaMite

[TheJimmy]

Originally posted by Dj Furious
Maybe they should put bounties on telemarketers and companies that send junk mail...

fuck who gives a shit?? so lame

no doubt

[Fletch XXX]

i used to telemark for the state troopers stickers.

35 bucks a sticker, was doing that when i was 15.

fun job, got to learn a lot about sales and how to talk people into buying anything.

can you imagine selling old ladies 35$ State Trooper stickers?

buahahah

[foreverjason]

how about the people that buy co-regs, do they get fucked in the process?

[Theo]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by steffie
Here is an idea

Do something about the spam in my PO Box.

The email is a lot easier to delete than a million papers from McMahon and win a million dollars.. [/QUOTE

you should see the casino cds im receiving every week. Whole packages

[pine]

But...if there was no spam, where would I get my stock tips, life insurance and pre-approved 3rd mortgages?

[Sasha18]

Originally posted by Dj Furious
What is the big deal with spam? I agree that spammers that use mainstream topics for adult material shouldn't happen, but is that really worth all the fuss?
I get a few junk emails, I delete em... a few clicks of the mouse.
What about the shitloads of wasted junkmail that comes to your house? How much fucking garbage is that? How many fuckin trees are getting cut down and just thrown in the garbage?

Just look at all your junkmail, and multiply that buy how many mailboxes in the world that is...!!

I'm not an enviromentalist but does e-mail spam really hurt anyone but the crybaby losers with nothing better to do than cry about that shit? I think junkmail is worse than email spam, but nobody seems to give a fuck about that?

well said

[Scootermuze]

Originally posted by steffie
Here is an idea

Do something about the spam in my PO Box.

The email is a lot easier to delete than a million papers from McMahon and win a million dollars..

The postal service loves this stuff.. it's where they make most of their money..

[richard123]

Over 500 spam emails a day. Back in '97 I said "who care? Just hit delete and get on with it".

Email is getting more & more useless as a communications tool every day.

but....

Why do people compare snail junk mail to email spam and phone/fax spam? What's the relevance?

Maybe this: If I got well over 500 brochures in my physical mailbox every day, my local politician may take note.

If I got over 500 "marketing" phone calls a day, people would care.

500 emails a day? Who needs email anyway?

I hope this proposal gets up and results in a whole new bounty hunting industry. I for one would love it!

Oh - and the opt-out: I tried it on one of my addresses (nothing to lose, I guessed). It actually increased the amount of spam I get to that address.

I say you should be able to report all unwanted email, and then the sender would have to prove that they received permission. Shouldn't be too hard, should it?

[HardProfits]

what gets me is that with all the problems we have in this world, so many people give a shit about spam

I just dont get it. Politicians walk past people begging in the streets, as they are so poor and desitute. And then they spend a considerable part of their day trying to figure out how to manipulate the inboxes of this weird gadget called the Internet

Lame - F U C K I N G Lame

[UnseenWorld]

Defining "advertising" isn't as obvious as it sounds. If one asks for the sale, that's obviously advertising. However, if someone writes me an e-mail asking me if I could use a graphic artist (without explicitly offering to do it for me) it might result in a sale, but is it advertising? And if a friend is down on his luck and wants to offer (in an e-mail) to wash my windows for some quick cash, is he breaking the law if he doesn't label it "ADVT"? (Obviously, I wouldn't turn a friend in, but shouldn't he be able to make this offer without breaking the law AND without having to make his e-mail look like a spam?)

[richard123]

Originally posted by HardProfits
what gets me is that with all the problems we have in this world, so many people give a shit about spam

I just dont get it. Politicians walk past people begging in the streets, as they are so poor and desitute. And then they spend a considerable part of their day trying to figure out how to manipulate the inboxes of this weird gadget called the Internet

Lame - F U C K I N G Lame

What a good idea! Ignore one problem because there are others more "important". Who really gives a fuck about beggars in the street when there are people starving in Africa???

Any other bidders? This methodology should lead us to the point where nothing matters because the ONE problemwe should ALL think about is........ ???? what?

[pornguy]

Maybe the government should adopt the idea of If they cant beat them, Join them.

I mean do you really think they could catch someone like that kid that broke into NASA's computer if he had decided to spam instead. ??? He would just routed around his own system.


Maybe they should just have a flat registration fee for companies that want to spam.

As for the Bounty thing. The only thing it will do is get people hurt!! People that did not spam will be accused of it and taken to court, loosing jobs and homes, ect. Imagine having to defend your self in court for three weeks in another state, because you spelled an e-mail address wrong. Or something like that. Could you really afford to be gone for that long?? Now Imagine a guy that works a regular job, having to do that. Just because someone decided to target him after getting pissed at him in a chat room or something...

ANd that shit will happen..

[detoxed]

i would turn bounty hunter

[Rochard]

For the smart ass above who told me to get a cordless phone.... However, at 8AM in the morning the phone is still on the base - Downstairs.

Let me see if I understand this correctly...... They pay a fee to the FTC to be able to call me (which is spam), and of course they have to pay the damn post office to send me junk mail.

Notice a trend here? If the government isn't making money off of it, it's illegal.

Why is spam in any form illegal? It's less of a bother than having to get up to get my phone, or to physically sort through my snail mail and figure out what's important and what's not.

Don't say anything about children being on the Internet.... Children shouldn't be on the Internet - The Internet can be danagerous for child, and it has nothing to do with adult content.

[DannyW]

Originally posted by stocktrader23
all the spammers would have to do to stay legal is add a few words to the subject line. How hard is that? Spam main won't slow down and the worst that anyone will see is more and more messages with ADV in the tag.

If they had to put ADV in the tag we would all be able to set up rules to delete email with ADV in. So that would kill spam very effectively.

And the cost of spam is MUCH more than the bandwidth. Consider the amount of work time lost every day dealing with 20 spam messages for each employee on the internet.

[SL|M!]

If this law passes, Ill be the first to turn in AOL for all those fucking cds they send me every month

[Plat]

I duno, o wait ask lensman and why he still has the swoit banner up