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Spam Laws Aggregated At SpamLaws.com
Compulawyer writes "I recently came across this website, SpamLaws.com, which has a fairly comprehensive list of laws covering unsolicited commercial email. My new favorite is the Ohio Statute. Spam must include the full name, either residence or business address, and email address of the spammer and provide an opt-out notice in the same type and size as the majority of the text of the message itself. The statute provides not only for damages of $100 per offense ($50,000 cap), but also allows for an injunction against the spammer. ISPs can also sue for $50 per violation ($50,000 cap - $500,000 cap if the violations were willful). The best part (for the non-lawyers and those who want the executive summary) is that forging headers is a FELONY."
And that's the best part? A felony is too severe. I don't like spammers at all, but it's not justice if the punishment doesn't fit the crime. /. had an article the other day about crackers getting penalties that were harsher than real-world crimes, such as robbery or assault. Is this just another example of irrational punishments attached to cyber-crime?
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Unfortunately, because of the global nature of the internet, and therefore spam, laws such as Ohio's can never be inforced. Global restrictions or the use of good technology are the only solutions. And because many governments have higher priorities (such as terrorism, the environment, commerce), it may be awhile before any UN Commission on Spam proposes a treaty. As such, we should rely on technology, rather than regulation.
* Legislation must be global or, at the very least, federal.
* Mail that claims to be the result of an opt-in must include the name and the circumstances of the opt-in (unlike "... one of our affiliates, which we refuse to name")
* A time limit should be imposed between performing the "unsubscribing" (ha) action and the last mail received. Fake "unsubscribing" links which do nothing (like the ones from big10links.com, freestuffshare.com, azjmp.com, and offerclicks.com) should in some way be discouraged.
* Forged headers and inappropriate use of "Re:" in the subject are fraud.
* When the mail subject claims "free product" consumers are entitled to receive the product for free, even if the body says "with $500 purchase".
* Why are spammers never imprisoned for years for theft of computer resources? (A.K.A. "cyber-terrorism") is it because they almost always choose foreign targets as mail relays?
* What else is missing?