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Will Bounties Cure The Spam Problem?

Posted by timothy on from the hang-'em-high dept.

An anonymous reader writes with a pointer to a piece in today's Mercury News about Lawrence Lessig's proposed spam-bounty legislation, excerpting: "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."

19 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. YEEHAW!!!!!! by spoonist · · Score: 5, Funny

    SADDLE UP, BOYS!

    I'M PUTTIN' ME TOGETHER A POSSE!

    We're gonna round up them bandwidth rustlers and get us the bounty!

    1. Re:YEEHAW!!!!!! by doktor-hladnjak · · Score: 5, Funny
      Hmmm... Perhaps, we've stumbled on a new opportunity for unemployed Slashdotters.

      Setting: cocktail party

      "So what do you do for a living?"
      "I'm a bounty hunter--a spammer bounty hunter."

      How cool would that look on a resume? Boring freelancers and consultants eat your hearts out!

  2. That's an easy one... by bergeron76 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Mike Wendland - public enemy number 1.

    Now where do I pick up that check...?

    --
    Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
  3. Proof? by jasonditz · · Score: 5, Funny
    "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."

    Proof? What year do they think this is?!

    Hasn't it already been established that the act of accusing them is proof enough? Send them to Guantanamo Bay, they'll confess in due course.

    1. Re:Proof? by RLiegh · · Score: 2, Funny

      1983?

  4. Bounty Hunters by boatboy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Isn't that how Jango Fett got started???

  5. I prefer this version... by exhilaration · · Score: 4, Funny
    "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 the scalps or the severed heads of offending spammers."

    1. Re:I prefer this version... by LX.onesizebigger · · Score: 2, Funny

      WANTED:
      Spammers - dead or... dead will do.

      --
      I for one welcome our new SCOviet Russian overlords to whom all our base are belong.
  6. One important question. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Dead or alive?

  7. Excellent! by inode_buddha · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'll be sure to send a list. After all the cutbacks at work last year, I could use the money. Not to mention the fact that my home dialup received 1038 e-mails last month - out of which perhaps 2 dozen were desirable. I also have my mail archived back through May of last year.

    All I can say is, "Come 'n get it!"

    --
    C|N>K
  8. Jail Mail by kmahan · · Score: 2, Funny

    That'll be fun -- put the guy in jail. The slashdot can post his new address (down to the jailcell) and we'll be able to see how many catalogs his jail cell can hold.

    He'll be real popular around mailcall.

    --
    Invalid Checksum. Retrying.
  9. Tank! by FrostedWheat · · Score: 1, Funny

    I think it's time to blow this thing.
    Get everybody and the stuff together.
    Alright, Three Two One lets Spam...

  10. Re:bounty hunters by MrLint · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hmm bounties for spammers? I wonder if i can get a mesage off to the Bebop and get radcial edward on the case:)

  11. proposed spam-bounty by frovingslosh · · Score: 1, Funny

    A simpler solution would just be to put a bounty on the head of the spammer, and let us hunt them down and bring them in dead or alive, but preferably the former. First few bounties collected this way would do a lot to resolve the problem.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  12. America's Most Wanted by MyNameIsFred · · Score: 2, Funny
    I can't wait until John Walsh appears on TV giving us the profile of this week's "Most Wanted" spammer. I just want to see the mug shots and police identikit sketches.

    This spammer goes by many aliases including spammer@aol.com and fred@slashdot.org. He is considered armed and dangerous and is known to use forged headers.

  13. Coming soon by skillet-thief · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hello [your name spelled wrong]

    Want to make as much as $3000/week, without leaving home!?! Become a Spam Bounty hunter! Just buy Doctor Bob's 12-step program for hunting down spammers...

    etc.

    --

    Congratulations! Now we are the Evil Empire

  14. Easy Money by sik0fewl · · Score: 3, Funny

    1) Start my own spam company
    2) Turn myself in
    3) ???
    4) Profit

    --
    I remember when legal used to mean lawful, now it means some kind of loophole. - Leo Kessler
  15. Re:Time for *REAL* Bounty Hunters! by NewtonsLaw · · Score: 2, Funny

    Uh-oh, I can see it now.

    Organized crime moves in on the spam business.

    Mind you, if there were just a couple of crime families runinng the spamming business it might be easier to block all those messages -- and any new wannabe-spammers would probably get whacked very early in their careers :-)

  16. Am I the only one... by Resident+Geek · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...who thinks that this would make a cool anime series? Imagine, a group of shady characters with dubious histories, coming together through necessity and circumstance to bust baddies. Think of the storytelling possibilities!

    --
    Fighting the War on the War on Drugs.
    http://smokedot.org/