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How to Kill Spam Without the State
WaxParadigm writes "The Colorado Freedom Report, an online libertarian publication in Colorado, has an article today about How to Kill Spam Without the State. Will our heavy-handed attempts to stop spam through legislation have the outcome we desire?" The article advocates putting the burden on the end user, saying "We must also take personal responsibility to kill spam. We can't pretend the politicians will do it for us. Their incentive is to develop a cute re-election flyer, not solve the problem. If you're still tempted by the political approach, ask yourself one simple question: who is more technologically savvy, your average spammer or your average politician? There are steps each of us can take to kill spam, and to help foster a culture that encourages spam killing." While this forgets the onus of spam on the ISP and telco companies, it should well be part of a multi-tiered plan against spam.
Yet another piece of libertarian propaganda.
They say we should give the responsibility to the end user because politicians can't handle it because "spammers are more technically savvy then politicians". Is it true? Yes. However, I'd say that even politicians are even more tech savvy then Joe Emailer.
This is yet another piece of their tired rhetoric full of holes. Take it with a bucket of salt.
"Raise your hands, you unemployed geeks who would jump at the chance of becoming paid-for spammer hunters."
While there is a part of me (of all of us) that starts to consider this idea, do you not believe something like this would end up making it not only possible for "grandma" to get punished for her email, but would provide economic encentive for her grandkids to turn her in?
It's thinking like this that helped Hitler round up his innocent victims.
Spam sucks, I know, but do we really need government keeping that close of an eye / control over the most powerful mechanism for (what could otherwise be free-as-in-speech) speech?