Slashdot Mirror
In (Sort Of) Defense of Spammers
CowboyRobot writes "Eric Allman of Sendmail has a rant in which he looks at the economic forces that have led to the spam problem: 'The sad point of all of this is that I'm going to (sort of) defend the spammers and point out that they are responding to basic economic forces that we all respond to at one level or another. As long as spammers can take in more money than it costs them, they will continue to spam. This is "rational" behavior in the economic sense.'" Otherwise known as the Willie Sutton principle.
All drug dealers and call people who commit fraud should go to jail
Well, thank you, Mr. Ashcroft. I personally think that drugs laws are illegal, unconstitutional, and immoral. I do NOT believe that people should go to jail for selling drugs. But, thanks for your Nazi-esque input!
He didn't say that because there's a cause to the effect of spamming, it should be legal. He simply said that so long as spam paid off, there will be spam, legal or not, and that if you want to solve the problem you need to look at making it not pay off.
Too many of you sit around with arguments in your mouth waiting for someone to come along and trigger your spewage. Shut the fuck up and THINK about what's being said before you open your pie-holes.
Until we find a way to learn about new products/brands that does not require broadcasting we will have spam. The difference between the superbowl commercials and my email inbox is only a media choice by the product marketers. Email adds to television, dvd, vhs, print, telephone, billboard, bumper stickers, magnetic car sign, window sticker, bandit sign and fax channels. The limitations being imposed on broadcast by telephone are spilling over into increased fax and email advertising. The spam problem goes away if you only accept email from sources who are in your contacts. Perhaps a chicken and egg problem in some cases. I do not have the same control over other media.
Aside: If drinking beer makes the farting horse funny, then I will never drink another beer.
When I was young, I had to rub sticks together to compute.