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Send Email to Utah, Go to Jail
Talaria writes "The Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy is reporting that two new laws in Utah and Michigan are going into effect next week, creating 'do not email' registries for children's email addresses. According to ISIPP, 'Email marketers who send unpermitted messages to email addresses or domains on the child protection registries in Michigan and Utah face stiff penalties including prison and fines.'" (Note that ISIPP has a vested interest in publicizing these laws, since they offer a service intended to establish that senders are in fact within the law.)
If the spammer is living in China (i.e., mainland China, Taiwan, or Hong Kong) and if this spammer sends e-mail notes to the e-mail address of an American children, how do the authorities plan to enforce this law. There is no extradition treaty between China and the USA.
their laws no longer apply to me. ... with time, i won't have to dodge bullets either.
But seriously, what their email gets automatically subscribed, as most emails do. Or if you're in a different country or state? I don't know the law in that respect, but it brings up the point of how can Utah law have jurisdiction on the internet.
After a while, when those on the "nospam" list turn into unprotected adults, those addresses become a spammer's dream of verified recipients. Especially to those pitching to the "young adult" market segment, which is probably the most popular for spammers after "midlife crisis men". I guess I know what to give my Utah cousins for their 18th birthdays: A new address.
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make install -not war
Utah isn't going to be getting extradition for arrests of spammers in other states. Flat out not going to get it. The other jurisdictions don't even care to enforce their own junk fax laws, never mind anti-spam laws. Now Utah has an idea that they'll get other states to go along?
No, not really. But the public will think they are doing something and go back to watching Survivor or whatever until their next wave of "government must do X about Y" feelings comes over them.
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
I've even heard some people go so far as to say that Utah is resonsible for a lot of the decay in the United States today.
I think that's Washington D.C. you're referring to.
Utah is a prosperous state with a highly educated and industrious populous. Anything bad that you are hearing is generated by Left-Wingers who are threatened by the Right-wing slant of the state.
Basically they have all the good and bad of every state in the union; in varying degrees. They have a lot of rural areas which drag then down a bit in the statistics.
http://www.adherents.com/largecom/lds_dem.html
http://www.netstate.com/states/alma/ut_alma.htm
Humor from a Genetically Molested Mind
My name is Prince omar en caver ensanado and i am in desperate need of help. My heard of unicorns are kiled by very bad men who have taken over my country of narnia. We need helps to buy food and supplies to keep alive the unicorns.
I know that you are a good child, and will be willing to help. I am also able to pay great money for the help. If you can email your momy or dadys bank account and social secutrity number, I put lots of money in the account. They be very happy and thank you for long time for making them so much money. In return we just need to spend some of it on food and some fun army stuff.
If you me help reply please. The poor little unicorns are dying. To deposit the money in you parents account and make them very happy, I need you to buy some stuff and leave in wardrobe at place I tell you later. you can buy with credit cards. We give you gillions of dollars as soon as we get the stuff.
Please help! You want to make parent happy and be good child, yes. you don't want to be bad child? Pleas reply and I tell you what you must buy. All this ok, i promise, cross my hert!
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
If you're not a big fan of trees and moisture in general, you may like it.
Yes, I'm a Mormon, but I'm originally from the south (North Florida... basically an extension of Georgia with an Alabama twang) and I'd never been to Utah at all until I was 19, and not for any appreciable amount of time until I was 21 and was going to college. I have no blood relatives from Utah.
Here's what I can't stand about Utah - climate. Hate it. I'm from Florida and I like my oxygen soaking and mosquito infested thank you very much. I'm tired of going through a tube of Chapstick every four days and I hate having to put lotion on my hands every day or watch them crack and bleed. My wife wants to stay in Salt Lake for my career... and her skin breaks out around humidity... don't know how we're going to arrange this one.
Some portions of culture - as noted, yes, I'm a Mormon, but I'd never been to Utah before I grew up. Some portions of the population are amazingly zealous (a small town or two in Utah actually has declared itself a "UN free zone", whatever that may mean), but so long as you stay out of the geographical fringes and don't go attacking people for whatever reason, you're pretty much OK. There's a lot more anti-Mormon activity here than there was in the South (and that's saying something), which I'm not a big fan of. I've never stood outside of someone else's building to pamphlet it, blare at those who enter it with megaphones, or break up other people's wedding parties, but there's a lot of folks there that seem to like to do it to the Mormons.
As far as the state being the "reddest" in the nation, that's true, but take a look at the political affiliation of the mayor of Utah's biggest city - yup, Salt Lake's mayor is a Democrat.
Take a look at the Senate minority leader, Harry Reid. He's a Mormon, too. It would appear the democrats don't have that much of a problem with Mormons after all.
Also, should it really surprise people that a bunch of conservative minded people should vote for a (here's a shocker) conservative party? Or that people should vote for others in their peer groups? Sure, lots of Mormons get elected but guess what - the majority of the people in Utah are MORMONS. You could even look at it as a matter of probability - if you were to randomly select something from a bag and 75% of the objects in the bag were one color, which would you be most likely to select? Apply the dynamics of winner-take-all voting on there and you're bound to get more Mormons in government. You may also note that blacks are very often elected by majority black areas and Jews in majority Jewish areas. Is it really that surprising that a place with a population up to 90% Mormon in some areas would vote for a Mormon and would allow their religious beliefs to maybe come into their voting?
As far as Utah bringing down American society as we know it, I hardly think Utah's four or five electoral votes could have that effect. And the people you're largely thinking of are evangelicals - and many of those are out there burning Books of Mormon and causing the Mormons a lot of trouble.
Paranoid political theories aside, Mormons don't (or most certainly don't) discuss politics from the pulpit. No non-profit group can without risking its non-profit status. Ironically, this has been used against a lot of Anti-Mormon groups that attack Mormon candidates based on religion.
I'm actually a BYU student in Provo, the most Republican city in the most Republican state in the Union. BYU does have a large Democrats club that actually WON last year's debate against the Republican club (whooped 'em big time), and the debate was scored by a firm, straight party-line Republican professor (I know because I've talked with him about these issues privately from time to time).
However, it shouldn't be assumed that all of the professors share his views. Of the professors I know who have expressed political views, Democrats are at least even with Republicans, and there's even
Disclaimer: I'm 2 time zones away from Utah and the closest I've been to it is 6 miles over it.
At any rate, I wouldn't say Utah is "dragging down the nation" all that much, if at all. You can't really talk about Utah without talking about Mormons, but my experience is that, while they may be quirky and even a little annoying at times, they're nowhere near as vitriolic as Evangelicals in general and Baptists in particular.
Part of it has to do with history, I think: other than sending out missionaries on bicycles, Mormons have learned the hard way to keep to themselves. Baptists may be up in arms about a government conspiracy out to get them when they can't put the Ten Commandments in a courthouse, but I haven't seen the US Army shoot at them yet. They also haven't been forced to alter their religious teachings in order to be considered for statehood.
(I'm partly sympathetic, but I'm mostly just ashamed of my government w/r/t Mormons.)
Even on television they seem far more sedate in pushing their religion than your average group of Baptists. They don't start out with threats of damnation, they just want to start by mailing you a book.
Another poster mentioned Senator Hatch, but let's face it: it takes 51 senators to get a bad bill through, and Hatch is only one man. You can't blame all those bad votes on Utah or Mormons. However, Baptists have the entire Bible Belt to play with (with the help of some sympathetic Catholics in Louisiana).
At any rate, if you're looking for someone to blame, I'd look elsewhere for now. Another poster mentioned Washington, D. C.