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Anti-Spam Bill Killed In California
Craig Newmark (craigslist) writes "In California, we had a pretty good antispam bill proposed by Sen. Debra Bowen, which was killed yesterday.
A pro-spammer bill, backed by the big media sites including Microsoft, passed through committee.
Here's a quick round up.
We're considering a big feedback campaign, based on conversation with staffers on what works for them, since they want to hear from constituents, as opposed to spam.
More to come ..."
Technology is still the best hope for killing spam. Laws may provide a few amusing high profile instances for public display, but they can't stop a threat that so easily straddles jurisdictions.
Pro-spammers like Microsoft have lots of money and motivation. Anti-spam folks always have either one or the other, if any, but almost never both. Every now and again a rogue politician will take up arms against spam, but he or she always faces the 5 or 6 six politicians that either don't care, or are paid not to care by spammers and their interests.
Why does the goverment have to get into every freaking use or misuse of the internet?
.ru , and all the other domains, and serving warrants on them?
Ok, say CA passed a law and allowed ppl to sue a spammer for say a million dollars, ok, so are you going to Korea, China,
"Wait wait" will be the protests, you can go after the big spammers like aaa,bbbb & cccc!!
yeah sure, dont you think they'd just use servers outside CA and perhaps the US to do what they've been doing ???
Trying to explain a email message header to a court of law may be one thing but getting the actual spammer may be a whole different game to play.
Ofcourse "my server was hacked and was being used for spam" will always be an option.
So whats the answer?
technology, even Windows machines have pretty good free Bayesian filter softwares available,(atleast for OE, & Outlook) and they are pretty effective, Popfile , SpamBayes are a couple which come to mind.
They will stop most of your spam, and a couple of weeks of "training" will catch most of 'em.
These softwares are not complicated to use, and are available through click and point interface no messy config files.
Ofcourse in the brighter side of this planet where free software reigns , there are too many spam filters available, server side, and client side. Pick one and forget the rest of the laws.
whew....
-- everyones not everybody and neither is everybody like everyone.
It was definitely pro-spammer, and ultimately pro-spam, in the sense that this is the best-case scenario for them. There is no way that the legislature could have completely nuked the bill, they would have been burned at the stake. So what did they do?
Reduce the penalties significantly
Provide loopholes for "inadvertent" sending.
So how do I prove that something wasn't inadvertent? Legally, I believe the burden is on the prosecution, and the bill allows for cases to potentially be tossed if the sending was inadvertent, or the penalties at least greatly reduced.
So bottom line is, if this thing gets passed, I want to see if it has any real effect upon spam or spammers. We shall see.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
Make a site like the Boycott RIAA site and related but identify each legislator, where they stand on the position, and where they voted.
If they used a tactic such as leaving the room when voting time came, to prevent a quorum, or to avoid going on record for the vote, identify that if it is known. Or if not known, list "present" or "absent" votes/non-votes.
You need to get a record of where the legislator stands. Do they support spammers like aol, microsoft, and the other dregs of spamming? Or do they support a spam free in box? Do they support opt in? Or industry's favored opt out? Do they support the federal do not call list? Or can they be quoted as saying that there are better ways of accomplishing the same goal, adopting the marketing companies tactics by avoiding being in opposition of a law that the vast majority of the public favors?
Find out what their voting record is. Find out what their positions are. Then find out what they actually do, do they back up their positions with votes in favor of their positions, or are they looking for cover?
Find out the info. Then out them. Make a site that can be used by voters to make an informed choice on where their legislator stands on the issues.
Then let us know where the site is.
Daylight is the best antiseptic for this infestation.
why not install SpamAssassin or create your own filters and block addresses that frequently contain Spam?
I use server side blocking, I use procmail blocking with my own blacklist, and I have recently been playing with Squirrelmail which offers a SHITLOAD of options for fending off spam.
It's their right to send it to you, it's your right to block it.
You would have to do more than that.
You also have to have every machine in every nation you do business with have perfect security also.
How many stories have we all read on spammers using compromised machines to do their spamming form?
A US congressman friend of mine recently asked me what I thought about anti-spam legislation. I told him it is a waste of time. Legislation can't stop spam, deny lists wont stop spam, and firewalls wont stop spam.
The only way to stop spam is to scrap SMTP and build a new trust based system from the ground up. The protocol is broken and can't be fixed.
What we really need is a law which lets you go after not only the spammer, but the company who hired him. Start going after the companies behind this and you will dry up demand for the services of spammers. If they are an overseas company, then revoke their right to do buisiness with anyone living in the United States or whichever country the law is enacted in.
That is what is needed, to put pressure on these clowns who are hiring the spammers in the first place.
--Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop. - Dr. Walter Gibbs