Time-travel Spammer Strikes Back

HopToit writes "Robby Todino is apparently upset about being outed a couple months ago as the source of all those wacked messages about 'Dimenstional Warp Generator Needed.' According to Wired, someone has pulled a major joe-job spam attack (forged 'From:' lines) on three popular sites in retaliation for making fun of Todino's goofy search for alien technology. Robby, if you're out there, you have ceased to be amusing."

Comments

Spam can be as serious as Murder.

[Andy_R]

Murder is the senseless waste of a human life.

Spam is the senseless waste of millions upon millions of tiny fractions of a human life.

There comes a point where the few seconds that each of us without spam filters spend deleting this crap adds up to the average lifespan of a human being.

If someone has sent that much spam, why should they not be treated in the same way as a murderer?

Re:E-mail tax...Micropayments to Recipients

[G4from128k]

Instead of a tax (why do some people always look to government for everything), why not use a micropayment system in which the sender must pay the recipient for delivery. If the sender is a friend or the e-mail is truly worth it, then the recipient rebates the sender's money. The recipient would set the payment level and publish it to the public.

For example, I would probably set my payment level at about 0.50 or $1.00, but if I stil get too many spams, then I would boost the charge to $2. I would also create a whitelist of people (friends, clients, mailing lists, and a few select businesses) who are automatically exempted. When somebody tries to send me an email, the MicroPayment Mail Transfer Protocol (MPMTP) would automatically inform the sender of the charge when they hit the send button. People not on the system would get automated return e-mail requesting that they join the system to complete the sending of their e-mail.

The point is that each person can decide how valuable their time is. Spammers (including those in Hong Kong) would be forced to target e-mails to only those people who would appreciate them.