Fighting Back Against Messenger Popup SPAM

An anonymous reader asks: "I recently re-installed XP (out of boredom and not necessity) and forgot to turn off the Windows Messaging service. Things were going fine, until today. I started getting those annoying popups again. I realize that I can turn off this service and I'll no longer get the messages, but, I want a way to 'take back the internet' and not have to worry about others getting these messages either. Normally, these messages are the typical University Degree spam, but the last one I got was for a piece of software that turns off the messaging service. And as everyone knows, there are some people on the net who'll pay for this. So, how can the people of the net fight back to ensure that these messages stop, and more importantly, these people stop preying on the less-technically inclined?"

Comments

short answer

[Twirlip of the Mists]

So, how can the people of the net fight back to ensure that these messages stop, and more importantly, these people stop preying on the less-technically inclined?

You can't. What they're doing isn't illegal, and arguably it shouldn't be. And even if it were, they'd just move their operations off-shore.

This isn't really a free speech issue-- commercial speech isn't covered by the same rules that govern other forms of expression-- but what you're basically saying is, "Some people are saying something that I don't like. I know that I can just stop listening to them, but I want to do more. How can I fight back to ensure that they have to stop saying what they're saying?

Sorry. Can't, or at least shouldn't, be done.

Now, if you wanted to take a different tactic, you could approach Microsoft through the appropriate channels to request that the Messenger service be off by default, or to have them remove it altogether. That might or might not work, but you could try.