SCN: Purposes--and spam.

[Lorraine Pozzi]

I'm for it if I don't have to do any work.  We could be heroes.

Lorraine
-------------------------

On Thu, 25 Apr 2002, J. Johnson wrote:

> I have wondered if a useful and highly laudable purpose SCN might follow
> would be the fighting of spam.  I don't mean by the usual technical means.
> I mean by legal and political means.
> 
> Consider that Washington state does have a law that assesses a penalty of
> $500 for e-mail messages with false header lines.  There have even been
> two or three cases reported in the papers where individuals have
> collected.
> 
> Now consider how many messages we have coming through here that have false
> headers--lots! (Thousands.)  (Did I mention a possible revenue stream?) 
> 
> For sure there is some work involved.  Like researching the law, learning
> how to layout a case before a judge (small claims courts, very informal),
> filing a case, and perhaps even writing letters to the spammers that we
> are about to file a hundred or so individual claims and would they like to
> negotiate a bulk discount? 
> 
> Nor would this work in all cases--there still are those spammers from out
> of country.  But there are enough native spammers to keep provide a good
> business.
> 
> (There's also the research getting the spammer's name and address, but
> that is not insolvable.  Just ask them where to send the check.)
> 
> There's also possible political action, like lobbying our legislators.
> Well, maybe our Articles forbid lobbying, but we could sure _educate_
> them.  Or educate our users how to file suits.
> 
> SCN would be a good base--perhaps the ideal base--for doing this because: 
> first, we have access a large flow of spam, and the technical expertise to
> analyze it; second, because the organization can provide the support
> for doing this that individuals don't have; and third, because this is not
> something most business are inclinded to undertake.  (Or even governmental
> agencies.)
> 
> And it isn't hard to start.  A start could be just doing some research
> about spam and putting up a web site.
> 
> So should SCN undertake active legal, political, or other measures to
> fight spam? 
> 
> === JJ =============================================================
> 
> 
> 
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