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Spammer Sentencing Guidelines
actaeon169 writes "The Register is reporting that the Feds are seeking public comment on a proposal to amend the Federal Sentencing Guidelines to deal with those convicted of violating the law set forth in the CAN-SPAM act. Here is what the Feds have to say."
Why do the sentencing guidelines matter? The law is so poorly written as to be unenforceable.
Where's my lobbyist? Right here.
Why go after the spammers (ie. the bulk emailing services). It's like shooting the messenger; instead, go after the advertisers of such spam emails, since their whereabouts are easier to track down than anonymous spammers.
Even though I was not that unlucky, I agree with you on this point.
Soljenitsyne once wrote that "Civilizations are as evolved as their prisons are"
Having such prison is a symptom, laughing at this is another.
Trolling using another account since 2005.
Bonus points should be given for:
- Using harvesting software.
- Not providing means to opt out.
- Using stealth email address verifiers.
- Forging headers, etc, etc.
- Using spam as an ends to break other criminal laws.
I also feel that ISPs should take some of the heat, if not criminal, at least financially, if it can be proved they had knowledge of the operation, or are blatantly spam friendly. Sure most spammers are off shore, but lots operations start off at US ISPs before they get smart, or are forced offshore.
One last thought. I swear I get more spam now than I did before the law went into effect. Anyone else have this feeling?
Having a bookmark to Google does not make you an expert on everything.
Lemme get this straight :
You are modded +1 interesting for proposing to torture convicts ?
My father spent 5 years in a Goulag for writing poetry, he'd be sorry to know the occidental mentality is not any better than the one that he fought behind the iron curtain.
Trolling using another account since 2005.
Why don't we do something similar to what was done to Alex in A Clockwork Orange. We can strap them down, keep their eyelids open, and force them to watch Gigli every day until they are "rehabilitated." Then again, maybe castration and breaking kneecaps is more humane.
Prevent email address forgery. Publish SPF records for y
As much fun as it is to vent and say "death to spammers" or even "one year in prison for every 100 spammed addresses", we have to be realistic. Prison is for hardcore criminals... eg: murderers, rapists, etc. and not for someone like spammers.
/. crowd, federal "pound-me-in-the-ass" prison is not the answer here. I'm not sure what the answer is, but that isn't it.
I hate spam as much as the next guy, and would surely love to vent my fury on those doing the spamming. However, and this opinion probably won't be popular with the
- c -
Spammers are people and some of them have a family and kids, too.
Sure, but spam generates a lot of emotion, frustration, and hatred because of the unrepentant nature of the crime. If you deal with spammers at all they tend to be self-righteous and have an attitude of "I'm doing nothing wrong and I'll never be punished", even as they steal resources and damage reputations.
Spammers shouldn't be killed, tortured, raped, or any of the other things many posters here are suggesting (and those suggestions are mostly joking) - but those kinds of sentiments are a natural reaction on the part of those who are victimized with no recourse. Spammers need to go to jail and make reparations.
[Set Cain on fire and steal his lute.]
The law needs to recognize a blindingly obvious point -- anti-spam filters are a form of computer security, and the use of filter evasion techniques is therefore a form of computer cracking. Thus, filter evasion is criminal in and of itself, and each additional enhancement to the filter evasion technique should map to a corresponding enhancement of the sentence.
/. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
Everything that has ever been funny has also been painful to someone else at least once.
"I slipped on the ice in front of the girl I was trying to impress! Hahaha!":
"My mother slipped on some ice and broke her neck. Insensitive jerk!"
"I walked around with my fly down all day. Hahaha!":
"I walked into a client meeting with my fly unzipped and got fired. Insensitive jerk!"
"Boy, was I embarassed! Hahaha!":
"I spent 15 years in therapy for the same thing. Insensitive jerk!"
To be blunt, it's the height of arrogance to assume that the particulars of a situation always map to something similar that happened to you. Your negative experience doesn't mean that noone else is allowed to make jokes about a similar situation.
I feel bad for you dad, seriously. That's awful, and he has my sympathy. That has no bearing whatsoever on the joke you were replying to.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?