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Beating the Spam Merchants

Posted by timothy on from the boilss-your-heart-cockles dept.

Crowbraid writes: "Well-written column by Margie Boule from the Portland Oregonian about an individual who got tired of getting spam, sued the company for $25 an email, and won." See also Bennett Haselton's anti-spam page, where he has details on "pursuing the anti-spam lawsuits on four separate fronts." (Those lawsuits were mentioned a few months back.)

2 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. Is this really a good idea? by HughsOnFirst · · Score: 4, Insightful
    This doesn't sound so good to me.
    Goliath then told the court, Harold says, "that when they get
    unsubscription messages, all their machine reads is the e-mail address. It
    can't read comments. Therefore they had never formed a contract with me,
    because they had never read my messages."

    Did this give Harold pause? "No. It made me angry. Who set up their
    machine, me or them? If they set up their machine to block
    communication, they are solely responsible for all communication that is
    blocked."

    I'm not sure I like the idea of being responsible for mail I don't read.
  2. Re:I would sue, but.... by dvdeug · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And I don't put my e-mail in public places where spammers would look to pick it up. As far as I'm concerned if you get spammed, it's your fault.

    I find it important that people reading my website can respond back to me. I don't see why me providing an email address so they can respond makes me at fault for getting spammed, any more than leaving a car in a parking lot while I shop makes me at fault for it getting stolen.