UK To Hold Public Enquiry On Spam

feepcreature writes "Is something going to be done about email spam at last? In the UK, the All Party Parliamentary Internet Group is to hold a public enquiry into spam. These politicians seem to understand the scale of the spam problem, and they are considering a new global level organization to deal with the Internet, as well as new laws, inter-government action and technical solutions. But will more international bodies help? Would laws work?"

Comments

laws?

[heliocentric]

Would laws work?

You can make something illegal, but you can't make it unpopular.

Re:laws?

[Zeinfeld]

The problem is, if the House of Lords debate is any indication, the possiblity of any laws whatsoever being passed is fairly minimal.

Come again? Since when was a house of Lords debate an indication of anything other than the fact the members still have a pulse?

The statement from the minister is actually pretty specific, they will be legislating to implement the privacy directive, that has a direct application to the spam issue. They are also open to other legislation being proposed - if it makes sense.

Parliament is nothing like Congress. The legislation is almost entirely driven by the government, they choose the schedule for the bills, everything so if legislation is introduced the chances are that it will be passed unless there are major problems. None of the gridlock you get in the US.

The other difference is that legislation is frequently amended en-route in response to individual members concerns and in committee. Unlike in the US the ammendments cannot be completely unrelated bills, but any member can propose an ammendment, you don't have to be a committee chair to have a chance of getting it heard. The privacy directive is very likely to be ammended to include an anti-spam provision if one is proposed that makes sense.

The result is that the system works very differently. It is not unusual for a bill to be followed by another shortly after with corrections.

The point is that it should not be easy to get legislation through.

interesting idea

[scovetta]

I think a pay-per-view model like the one IBM described, available here would somewhat alleviate the problem. I'd be happy to accept spam if I was paid, say, $0.01 per email received. Perhaps something like a tax on the ISPs, so Joe's ISP can send out 100 emails a day per user, any more is taxed at $0.01 per email. So each user gets the 100, if they need more, then they either pay a little bit, or maybe even get a license for unlimited. I wouldn't mind paying a TINY bit for a solution to the spam problem. As long as these fucktards use open relays (run by fucktards), I'm never going to be able to tell the penis enlargement mailing lists I REALLY sign up for from the spam.

Maybe

[The Bungi]

Would laws work?

Self-regulation has largely failed, so I really don't see why not. Because of the actions of a few (in Internet scale), the rest of us must pay.

But the question is not really "would the law work". It's "would it be enforceable?", and "at what cost?". And "cost" is not only monetary...

I was going to get ADSL, but...

[maeka]

From the article:

In order to increase user confidence in the Internet and increase take-up levels for broadband it is essential that all stakeholders work together to combat the growing of spam.

If you ask me, spam is a good reason to get broadband. I'm tired of trying to download 25+ bloated, HMTL laden, emails every day over my sub-56K connection.

Can politicians really retool email?

[bkedelen]

If spam is really a problem with the fundamental flexability of the smtp system, I do not see that politicians will have much success controlling it. It seems to me that the only really successful campaigns against offensive internet use are grass-roots based, starting with end users becoming genuinely fed up and accepting new (possibly painfully new) techniques, instead of just being annoyed, but unwilling to take the next step. Perhaps ./ should have an article examining the current alternatives to smtp and easy ways ./ readers can make it a part of their companies, and homes.

Let's find a Cure, not a Treatment

[Anonymous Coward]

The spam issue has some interesting parallels in the models of the new economy. Just like in other industries like healthcare and pharmacuticals, the major players are not interested in a "cure". That's not profitable for them. A more appealing approach for them is some method of "treatment", preferably something that obligates the user to continually do business with them in perpetuity in order to maintain their spam-free condition.

Efforts to regulate the content of spam messages, inconsequential civil penalties, client side filtering, and any system which filters mail based on content caters to this impotent approach to addressing the spam problem. It offers no cure. It does nothing to reduce spam; it does nothing to discourage spammers; it does nothing to address the most serious problem of spam, which involves unfair and often illegal exploitation of resources.

Maybe this is the new way. We don't actually solve any problems. We just put bandaids on them and allow them to consume more wasted resources, and the demand for more resources, hardware and bandwith is what drives the new economy.

Call me idealistic, but I think it sucks. I am appalled that so many people will settle for such shallow and ineffective approaches to these problems. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Most of these people profit from the existence of spam so why bite the hand that feeds them on a major artery when you can collect some bucks and merely trim their nails?

I wanna be an outlaw

[L. VeGas]

If spam is outlawed, only outlaws will get YOUNG HOT SLUTS!!! AND VIAGRA NOW!!

The Horrors of SPAM

[rMortyH]

I'm not in the UK, so I can't tell my story there, but spam has ruined my life!

First of all, it's almost impossible to answer all of it! But that's just the beginning of the problem.

At first, I thought it was great. I got tons of credit, a new mortgage at 0%, and a fat check from some guy in Nigeria. But now my 'manhood' and my wife's breasts are so huge that neither of us can move or even feed ourselves.

If we didn't have the army of hot teenage sluts to take care of us, we'd be dead by now.

I hope they will put an end to spam before any more innocent people suffer this horrible fate.