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Senate Passes Anti-Spam Bill

Zendar writes "Yahoo! is reporting that the 'U.S. Senate passed the first national anti-spam bill on Wednesday, giving momentum to an issue that has riled consumers almost as much as dinnertime phone calls.' However, the bill, referred to as the 'Can Spam' bill, is unlikely to pass the House and be signed by the President. Senator John McCain sums it up: 'The odds of defeating spam by legislation alone is extremely low, but that does not mean we should stand idly by and do nothing about it.' CNN also has the story."

11 of 350 comments (clear)

  1. Best Spam Recently by da3dAlus · · Score: 3, Funny

    A co-worker got one yesterday "Get Viagra - Half Off!". Kinda defeats the purpose, no? :)

    --

    Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
  2. Re:This will only momentarilly stop the hemorrhagi by Steve+B · · Score: 2, Funny
    over 70% of the spam in the world is accounted for by 20 or so people

    That could be a problem -- after Afghanistan and Iraq, I'm not sure if we still have 20 Predator-mounted Hellfires in stock.

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    /. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
  3. Re:Drat by DougMelvin · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hate to say it, but I think it is time to move beyond email.

    Such as... telepathy??

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    Reality is in the mind of the beholder - me 1996
  4. 5 year prison terms by andy1307 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Spammers please note: Spammers will get 5 year prison terms. Trying to sell tool enhancement therpies in prison is not a good idea..you'll get to know what "choke her with your large johnson" really means.

  5. Re:Drat by webtre · · Score: 2, Funny

    Soon to come in 3004:
    damn! a teenager on the street gave me another thought advertisement for some penis enlargment product

    --
    litigious bastards
    suck it sco!
  6. Re:Politicians for Ya by Bendebecker · · Score: 2, Funny

    We shall fight on the beaches,
    We shall fight on the landing grounds,
    We shall fight in the fields, and in the streets,
    We shall fight in the hills;
    We shall never surrender,
    --Winston Churchill

    --
    There's a growing sense that even if The Future comes,
    most of us won't be able to afford it.
    -- Lemmy
  7. There's ALWAYS a Way by LittleGuy · · Score: 3, Funny

    However, the bill, referred to as the 'Can Spam' bill, is unlikely to pass the House and be signed by the President.

    They should have called it something like "Mary Sue's Law for Liberty and Freedom". It would have been signed by dinnertime today.

    Also, have a link between spam, Bin Laden, Hussain, and peodphiliac drunk drivers.

    --
    Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
  8. Re:Politicians for Ya by kfg · · Score: 2, Funny

    Senator Foo Bar stated today that, "I realize that legislation alone won't do much to stem the tide of the cold virus, but we can't just sit by and do nothing while this virulent and potentially deadly virus infects millions of Americans."

    Arrest of "distributors" is imminent.

    The AMA issued a somewhat puzzled statement, claiming that while they appreciated any aid in the quest to find cures for viral infections they were clueless as to how outlawing said virii in any way constituted such aid.

    Alone or otherwise.

    KFG

  9. Re:Politicians for Ya by clacour · · Score: 2, Funny
    "The battle on spam must be fought on all available fronts..."

    I disagree. There is only one front that spam can be fought on successfully, and that is economic.

    When spam is no longer profitable, spammers will give it up voluntarily. As long as it is profitable (especially as profitable as it is right now) people will continue to do it, regardless of one law or a thousand.

    Each law passed to try to stop it restricts someone's freedoms, and it's pretty much unavoidable that the law will restrict some who do not deserve such restriction. If that would eliminate spam, that might be considered a reasonable tradeoff. Since it will not, each and every law passed solely on the basis of "We've got to DO something!" is a bad idea.

    The best thing I've seen so far is A Plan for Spam. I tend to agree with the author's assesment of how likely it is to work, specifically because it destroys the economics of spam.

    I think most of our collective energy should be going to integrating things like "A plan for Spam" into common email programs, possibly extending it to allow people to join anti-spam clubs, so they don't have to label the thousand or so emails the thing needs to train with themselves.

    Simply having a button that says "Spam!" will help a lot of people deal with the frustration involved with spam, and if it is pitched to the general public as "Every time you kill an email as spam (instead of just deleting it) you're helping to put spammers out of business," you're going to have to beat them off with a stick. People would love to have a way to get back at spammers.

  10. Re:Buyer Beware! by photomic · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hey, it worked for drugs, right?

    --
    sig under peer review

  11. Re:Politicians for Ya by volkris · · Score: 2, Funny

    The battle on spam must be fought on all available fronts,

    Why?